Dudefood tuesday: “Make a cake for Valentine, meatball!”

Nowadays the Valentine madness has also definitely landed in our small country.
Where the Dutch people used to be known for being down down to earth, now they drift on silk and sweet clouds of love in the second week of February.
And don’t think that you can escape the Valentine trap because you are going steady with your Misses.
Because in these days you are supposed to buy even more expensive things for your woman, than only send an anonimous postcard or some flowers to your secret love.
It’s the same in this house, here. When I forget about Valentine I can rest assured that the two months thereafter will gonna be, how to say this politely…, well, they will be like Hell in Holland.
So this year I decided not to go with the flow and run to the perfume store or jewellery shop for a nice (and expensive) gift.
Nope, this year I decided to give the Misses a present that represents me and our relationship. A gift that tells her why she chose me so many years ago; for she chose me because I’m a Dude!
Ofcourse the present had to be Valentinesque, for it is a Valentine present after all. The second thing the gift had to be, was homemade. That’s what I like to do, make things at home, so the gift had to tick that box also. And last, but not least, the present had to scream “Dude!!!” all over.

I thought for days about a present that could meet these three demands and came up with nothing. I felt like a meatball for not being creative.
And only when I screamed to myself: “You are a fruitcake!!!”, it finally hit me.
I could bake a cake at Valentine for the Misses.

I took my newfound idea and ran it through the three rules checker:
Valentinesque? Check! Homemade? Check! Dude? Failed!

Disappointed I yelled to myself again: “You are also a meatball!!”
Strange but true, my ranting gave me new inspiration. If I’m a meatball, I can make a meatloaf with minced meat!

Quickly I checked the three rules again.
Homemade? Check! Dude? Check! Valentinesque? Failed!
But what if I made a cake in a meatloaf style?
Check, check and check!

And there it was; my perfect gift this year for Valentine.
A cake of minced meat with some apricots for sweetness and baked in a heart shaped baking tin ofcourse.
With this dish you will definitely have a Dudey and yummy present for your Misses or the one you secretly admire.

Dudefood tuesday: "Make a pie for Valentine, meatball!"

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GangMeatloaf

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Delicious meatloaf with sweet abricots and crunchy walnuts. Perfect recipe to indulge your Valentine

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Prep time 15 minutes mins

Cooking time 55 minutes mins

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3 -4

Ingredients

• ▢ 1/2 Pumpkin sliced in dice of appr. 2 cm
• ▢ 200 gr unsalted walnuts
• ▢ 150 gr dried apricots finely sliced
• ▢ 1 onion finely diced
• ▢ 1 clove of garlic pressed
• ▢ 50 gr unsalted butter
• ▢ 50 gr flour
• ▢ 100 ml milk
• ▢ 500 gr minced meat
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 2 tsp chinese five spice
• ▢ olive oil
• ▢ salt n peppa

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• Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix the pumpkin with oliveoil, salt n peppa in a bowl. Pour the diced and seasoned pumpkin on a baking tray and pour the walnuts next to it. Put the baking tray in the oven for about 10 minutes
• In the meantime melt the butter in a frying pan and bake the onion and garlic until glazed. Stir in the flour and bake this for another minute. Pour in the milk and stir until you get a ball of dough. Put the dough in a big bowl and let it cool for a couple of minutes.
• Get the baking tray out of the oven and let pumpking and walnuts cool down for a couple of minutes. Roughly chop 2/3 of the walnuts. Lower the heat of the oven to 180°C
• Add minced meat, five spice, eggs, pumpkin and 2/3 of the sliced abricot to the dough and mix this until you have a firm dough. Add salt n peppa to taste
• Spoon the meaty dough in a baking tin (preferably a heart shaped tin) and press this firmly in the tin. Use the remaining walnuts and sliced abricot to decorate the top of the pie and then seal it of with tinfoil. Put the meatloaf in the oven for about 45 min. Remove the tinfoil 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. After 45 min take the meatloaf out of the oven and let it cool down for about 10 minutes.
• Cut nice and thick slices from the meatloaf cake and serve with some nice bread or a green salad. Happy Valentine!

Disclaimer

The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @insimoneskitchen_ or tag #insimoneskitchen!

 

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About the Author

Tom Gerrets

Since recently promoted to sales manager at Simone's Kitchen, he is still working towards his ultimate goal; to become a celebrated hobby chef.. ;) After a few enervating cooking courses he became really interested in preparing dishes. His sometimes cynical outlook on the world and the actualities at least do not leave a bitter taste in his dishes. With Carpe Diem as his life motto Tom is thé Bourgondiër pur sang on this culinary blog and the inventer of the Dudefood Kitchen.

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