Growing up, our main evening meal generally consisted of meat or fish served with simply cooked vegetables, rice or potatoes, and always a salad. My mother would serve us green lettuce in the summer and chicory or grated carrots in the winter. The meals I prepare myself have become more elaborate as my interest in cooking has grown over the years, but the love of green salad has remained.
This menu combines all these elements with another of my absolute everyday favourites, roasted potatoes.
Ingredients
Serves 6
For the meatloaf:
600g minced meat (a mix of pork/beef or veal/beef)
1 small onion, finely chopped
Handful of parsley, roughly chopped
2 tbsp ricotta
1 egg
1 slice of sourdough bread
2 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard, plus 2 for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the roasted carrots and parsnips:
10 medium carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthways
6 parsnips, cut in four lengthways
100g feta cheese
Few thyme sprigs
Extra-virgin olive oil
For the roasted potatoes:
12 medium size potatoes, cut in 4 lengthways
Extra-virgin olive oil
For the salad:
3 chicories
125g lamb’s lettuce
Half of a small shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp pine nuts
Apple cider vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Start with the meatloaf, cut the bread into small pieces and let it soak in the milk while chopping the other ingredients. Combine all the ingredients together by hand or with a fork and using either a bread-tin or an oven tray shape into a loaf. Spread the mustard all over, and bake in the oven for about an hour.
Place the chopped potatoes in an oven dish, add a couple of tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss well together to coat the potatoes and place in the oven with the meatloaf. Be sure to stir about every 15 minutes to avoid the top drying out and the bottom from sticking to the dish.
Combine the carrots and parsnips in a large oven tray with a good glug of olive oil, some thyme, salt and pepper and mix well to coat all the ingredients with oil. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 180°C. Here again, stir about every 15 minutes. Add the crumbled feta 5 minutes before the veg is ready.
The meatloaf will be cooked in about an hour and potatoes and vegetables in 45 minutes. Cooking time depends on your oven and sizes of the vegetables, so always taste to check, and cut through the meat to see if it’s ready.
While all these are cooking wash and dry the lamb’s lettuce and prepare the dressing. In a small bowl, grind some black pepper, add a good pinch of salt, the shallot, pine nuts and a tablespoon of vinegar. Progressively add olive oil to taste, whisking with a fork. I sometimes swap the cider vinegar for white vinegar with tarragon, or combine a few together.
Cut the chicory in half lengthways then into 1cm slices and place in a serving dish with the lamb’s lettuce. Add the dressing just before serving and combine well together. Bring all the dishes to the table and cut the meatloaf in thick slices for serving. I personally love eating the salad together with the rest, as the dressing brings a nice pinch of acidity.
-
This recipe is from Marina Bautier's cookbook Vendredi.