Rollo de Carne con Tocino (Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Meatloaf) - Hispanic Kitchen

For my Mon & Dad 69 Wedding Anniversary I found a very special recipes, for "rollo de carne." It's basically a meatloaf, stuffed with salami, spinach and cheese. Then it's all wrapped with bacon! Wow! This tasty recipe, and very hearty dish, came from Albuquerque NM, where I was born 62 years ago. You can most certainly cut the recipe in half for a smaller family of four. I decided to use pre- sliced cheese for this recipe instead of shredded cheese. I was afraid the shredded cheese would fall out as I tried to roll the meatloaf.

Ingredients:

2 lb 80/20 ground chuck
1/2 c bread crumbs
6 tbs ketchup
1 c finely diced white onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
6 oz salami, sliced
6 oz cooked spinach (squeeze all the liquid out)
8 oz manchego cheese, shredded (i used sliced pepperjack cheese; i could not find manchego)
1/2 lb bacon

Directions:

1. If using fresh spinach, cook it, strain all the liquid out and let it cool. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. 2. In a large bowl, combine the beef, bread crumbs, ketchup, onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients well, set aside. 3. Line a baking pan with easy release foil paper. Transfer the beef onto baking sheet and spread it out with your hands to an 11x14 size, more or less. Lay the salami slices out evenly, then the cheese, finally the spinach. 4. Using the foil paper to help you, start to form a roll, using the paper to push the meat forward. Once you have it rolled, add the bacon slices over top. Take the foil paper and wrap it around the meat roll as tight as you can without squeezing it too much. Transfer the meat roll to a smaller baking dish. 5. Bake for 1 hour, open up foil to expose bacon and broil for a few minutes to crisp up the bacon. Never leave the broiler unattended. Remove from oven and let sit for 20 minutes before slicing. Yields up to 8 servings. Serve with your favorite side of potatoes, rice or veggies. Notes: The only thing I changed from the original recipe was that I added 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and doubled the amount of ketchup. Source: hispanickitchen.com