Here is a meatloaf you can put together in less than 15 minutes then leave to cook while you do something more interesting. It is best served cold, so I always make mine the day before I want to eat it then pop it into the fridge. Chilling it makes it easier to slice too! Before you start, preheat your oven to 180/Gas 4 and get out a roasting tin with a trivet to cook your meatloaf in. You will need:-
- 500g Toulouse sausages
- 500g ordinary pork sausagemeat
- 300g chicken fillets
- About 8 rashers of streaky bacon
These quantities make a generous helping for four adults. There’s no chopping onions or herbs – there is plenty of flavour in the sausages already. Just take the pork sausagemeat and use your hands to push it out into a rough oval about 20cms long. Lay the chicken fillets on top of the sausagemeat, trying not to leave any gaps between them. Remove the skins from the Toulouse sausages and squash the meat into a single lump. Shape this meat so that it forms a cover for the layers you have already made. Add the cover, pressing down all round the edges of your oval shape so that the chicken fillets are fully enclosed within the two layers of sausagemeat. Use your streaky bacon rashers to cover the meatloaf, tucking any loose ends underneath. Now put the meatloaf onto the trivet in the roasting tin and cook in the middle of the oven for 1 hour. Test with a skewer to make sure your meatloaf is cooked and give it extra time if you need to (I usually find that an hour and a quarter is the right amount of time, but ovens vary).
Leave the meatloaf to go completely cold then serve with salad, or chips if you prefer.