Definitely a winner, this meal. I have wanted to use a savoury recipe with treacle in it for some time, so was glad when I saw the Boston Baked Beans recipe the other day, by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (although mine’s a much quicker version). The meatloaf recipe is one my Mum gave me and the mash was inspired by the meal I had in New Jersey. The only thing I think might make the meal better would be to make more of the meatloaf sauce to pour over at the end. However, the beans have a nice sauce with them which complements the meatloaf very well, so perhaps extra sauce isn’t needed after all.

I used 1lb of pork mince and half a pound of beef mince for the meat. Mix the meat together and add a finely chopped onion, half a crushed clove of garlic, an egg, a splosh of red wine and 75g of breadcrumbs. You can add fresh parsley and celery leaves as well. The seasoning should consist of pepper, celery salt and paprika or chilli powder. Mix it all together until you get a firm but moist consistency. Put the mixture in a greased bread tin and compact it.

To make the sauce for the meatloaf, put 100ml ketchup, 75ml wine vinegar, 1tbsp worcestershire sauce, 2 crushed garlic cloves and a teaspoon of chilli powder into a pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Then pour over the meat in the tin and stick in the oven on gas mk 4 for 75 minutes.

The beans I made with a tin of cannelloni beans, although any white beans will be fine. First of all, cook some belly pork or diced pancetta in a oven transferable pan until it starts to colour. Then add a tbps of black treacle, 2 tbsp of brown sugar and a tsp of english mustard. Add the beans plus a few shallots with a clove stuck in each one. Mix in a bit of water, then put the pan in the oven next to the meatloaf and cook for about 45 mins. Check about halfway through and mix in some extra water if the mixture looks too dry.

For the mash I just added a thinly sliced shallot, once I’d mashed the potatoes. I think spring onion works a little better but a shallot will do if you have no spring onions.

An excellent meal with the sweet, spicy beans very much complementing the meatloaf with the mash to mop up the sauce. I will definitely be making meatloaf pittas with salad for my lunch tomorrow!