Italian Meatloaf With Chunky Tomato Sauce

Meatloaf is a really traditional dish and certainly doesn’t feature on the menu of any restaurant I have been to in many years. However I think it has been overlooked too long and is a very easy to make meal that you would be happy with on a busy week night. The ground beef is mixed with capsicum and sour dough breadcrumbs. When topped with a sweet, rich chunky tomato sauce, this elevates it above the mundane reputation that meatloaf has.

Ingredients:
Meatloaf
• 5 slices Sourdough Bread
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Brown Onion, Diced
• 4 rashers Bacon, diced
• 1 Red Capsicum, Diced
• 800 kg Beef Mince
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Basil Leaves, roughly chopped
• 20 g Butter, melted
• 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
Chunky Tomato Sauce
• 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 Brown Onion, Diced
• 2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 800 g Diced Tomatoes, 2 x 400g cans
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar, white or red (I used red which perhaps makes the sauce sweeter)

For pictures and more, click the link below:
Italian Meatloaf & Chunky Tomato Sauce

bon appetit