Meatloaf with Barbeque Sauce : Gluten free, Egg free, Dairy free, sugar free

Early last year, during a visit to my in law's farm, my mother-in-law made us a gorgeous meatloaf with barbeque sauce.  It was delicious.  It was an old family recipe that was a favourite amongst the kids when my husband was growing up.  My mother-in-law let me take a photo of the recipe, stains and all.

I wanted to recreate this old recipe. It needed to be wheat and egg free and, preferably a little healthier.  The original recipe called for such things as sausage mince, instant coffee and brown sugar. Furthermore, my mother in law is now eating a wheat free, dairy free, sugar free diet.  Here is my adapted recipe:

For the meatloaf:

Handful of fresh parsley

Couple of sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

2 onions

1 clove of garlic

500g good quality pork mince

500g good quality beef mince

2 teaspoons of curry powder

1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs

1 cup of water

Salt & Pepper

Firstly, finely chop the herbs, onions and garlic - I used my Thermomix (herbs and garlic - speed 7, 5 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add onions, set lid to closed position and pulse 2 or 3 times).

In a large bowl, add to the onion and herb mixture: the gluten free breadcrumbs, curry powder, seasonings, water and minces.

Using your hands, mix together all the ingredients.  Get right into it and mix it all really well.

Transfer the mixture to a lined baking tray and shape the mixture into a loaf

Pop into a 200 degree oven (390F) for 1/2 hour

Now, let's get onto the Barbeque Sauce

I used dates as the sweetener in this sauce as I wanted to avoid using sugar.  The original recipe called for brown sugar and I wanted to keep the caramel colour and add some sweetness.  I also doubled the original recipe as I wanted loads of sauce, but that's not essential - feel free to halve it.

1/2 cup dried pitted dates (you can use 1/2 cup of brown sugar if you like)

1 cup water (200g)

1 cup tomato sauce (240g)

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce (120g)

4 tablespoons vinegar (50g)

Juice of 1 lemon

Firstly, you want to grind the dates down to mush.  I used my Thermomix - speed 9 - 45 seconds.  You could use a powerful blender/bamix or whatever suits.

For traditional cooking: Put the ground dates and all other ingredients into a saucepan, bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

For Thermomix cooking: Add remaining ingredients to the ground dates - speed slow, 100 degrees, 8 minutes.

Barbeque sauce now done.  It will be a little runny, but don't worry, it thickens up nicely later. 

Back to the meatloaf

After the meatloaf has been cooking for 1/2 an hour, remove it from the oven.

Pour the barbeque sauce over and around it.

Place back into the oven for an additional 50 minutes.  You can remove it after 25 minutes, spoon the sauce back over the meat and continue cooking.  This is more important if you halved the sauce recipe.

After 50 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven.

Transfer the loaf to a slicing tray

You will be left with lovely thick and sweet barbeque sauce in the baking tray, ready to be spooned over your meatloaf slices.

Slice up the meatloaf

Serve with mash (I used mashed potato, pumpkin, carrot & sweet potato) and steamed greens and spoon the barbeque sauce over the sliced meatloaf.  Delicious!

Wheat Free & Yum!