Italian meat and vegetable cake
( Tortino di carne e verdure)

Meat and vegetable cake recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare all vegetables.
  Clean and wash red bell peppers. Remove their seeds and quarter them. Dice them.
  Clean and wash courgettes. Grate them.
  Clean, wash and dice eggplants. Remove their seeds if they are too many.
  Slice onion finely.
• - Crumble sausage.
• - Cook all ingredients.
  Put 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.
  Fry slightly onion together with diced aubergines and red bell peppers on a low heat, at least 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
  Add all meat included crumbled sausage and continue cooking, 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  Add courgettes, season to taste with salt, raise the heat and cook until all cooking juice is well reduced, other 5 minutes.
  Let all cool.
• - The last step.
  Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
  Grease a round baking pan (Ø 28 cm - 11") with remaining olive oil and sprinkle a tablespoon of plain dried breadcrumbs.
  Transfer your meat and vegetable mixture into a bowl.
  Beat eggs, season to taste with salt and add them to the mixture together with 125g (4.4 ounces) of plain dried breadcrumbs.
  Stir very well.
  Add other plain dried breadcrumbs, if the mixture is too soft.
  Spoon this mixture into the baking pan, level its surface, sprinkle the last tablespoon of plain dried breadcrumbs and sesame seeds on the top.
  Bake until cake surface is golden, 30 to 40 minutes.

Just before serving

• - Wait for 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Note

Tips

• - If you have some terrine left, don't worry! Warm it up the day after: it tastes fantastic!
• - You can substitute fresh aromatic herbs with dried ones in cold month.
• - In cold months, when you can't find zucchini, sweet peppers and eggplants, you can replace them with a pack of frozen vegetables (450g - 1 pound) or 1 to 2 cans vegetables in oil.

Menu planning

• - You can serve it as appetizers, cubed.
  It is a main dish too, especially for your special event menus,Christmas included.
  It is a perfect choice for meal, buffet-style.

Useful links for this recipe

• - The perfect side dish for the terrine is "white salad": fennels, white grapes and toasted cashews seasoned with salt, olive oil and honey. Fantastic!

Healthy eating

• - Choose this dish made with meat and vegetables for your celebration menus, Sunday meal and Christmastime. It is not rich in calories but elaborated.
  I also remember that red meat should be consumed in moderation for healthy eating.
• - Fiber per serving: 3.1 grams

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Italian meat and vegetable cake "?

My husband and I uncork a bottle of Barbera from Monferrato (bright red wine from Piedmont - Italy).
Service temperature : 16-18°C