Mediterranean meatloaf

Ingredients

1 kg beef mince

100 g pitted kalamata olives, chopped

80 g sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

0.5 cup dried breadcrumbs

0.25 cup tomato paste

3 tbsp chopped parsley

10 slices proscuitto

mashed potato and green vegetables to serve

Preheat oven to 160°C. Combine the mince, olives, sundried tomatoes, egg, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce and parsley, lightly mix.
Line the base and two sides of a lightly greased loaf tin with baking paper. Line the paper with the proscuitto slices making sure the proscuitto flaps will overlap to cover the top of the meatloaf.
Push the mince mixture into the loaf tin well, cover with the proscuitto flaps. Bake for 60 minutes or until meatloaf shrinks slightly and is firm in the centre and no longer pink inside. Stand for 5 minutes before turning out of pan. Serve with mashed potato and vegetables.

The meatloaf can be prepared the day before, ready to put in the oven when everyone gets home.
Cook mince dishes right through. All mince meat dishes should be cooked so that they are no longer pink on the inside and that the juices run clear. Meatloaf can still appear pink on the inside though cooked to well done. This is due to the nitrates that are present in the ingredients often used in the meatloaf mix like onions, celery and red capsicum. To be sure use a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should be around 75ºC.