This has been adapted from a recipe that was invented by John Torode’s gran as beef wellington wasn’t a viable option – and, like her, I cant afford to be buying beef fillets to make beef wellington, so meatloaf is a great substitute at only £2.57 per portion. It also happens to be extremely tasty. I just made a couple of minor changes to the original recipe: sitting the loaf on pate rather than mushrooms and substituting the sage with rosemary.

Ingredients

• 1kg minced beef
• 100g tomato ketchup
• 4 eggs
• 3 onions , finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves , finely chopped
• small handful rosemary, chopped
• handful parsley , chopped
• 25g butter
• 200g pate (I used homemade chicken liver pate, but just use your favourite)
• 500g pack puff pastry

Instructions

1. Mix the beef with the ketchup, 3 eggs, seasoning and 100ml water in a table-top mixer for 5 mins – or squeeze and squelch with your hands in a bowl. Mix in the onions, half the garlic and herbs.
2. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Press the meat into a sausage shape about 30cm x 10cm on a baking tray.
3. Cook for 20 mins then remove and leave to cool.
4. Roll pastry into a rectangle large enough to wrap up the beef. Beat remaining egg with a little water and brush over pastry.
5. Spread the paté into a meatloaf-size strip along the middle of the pastry.
6. Sit the meat on top then cut pastry either side into strips from the meat outwards. Criss-cross these over the meat to enclose and tuck under ends. Brush with more egg, then place on a tray.
7. Cook for 40 mins, covering after 30 mins if going too brown, then serve.