Venison Meatloaf

Step 1

Soak the bread cubes in a bowl with the milk while you chop the vegetables and get everything else ready. Put the roughly chopped vegetables into a food processor and blitz them until it begins to form something of a paste. This will keep the meatloaf super moist.

Step 2

Heat the olive oil in a small pan and sauté the vegetables from the food processor until soft. Add the tomato sauce and mix well. Cook this another couple minutes, then remove the mixture to a plate and spread it out: This helps it cool quickly.

Step 3

Preheat your oven to 375°F. When the bread has softened, squeeze out the excess milk and chop and mash the soaked bread on a cutting board until it too forms something of a paste. Toss it and the cooled vegetable mixture into a large bowl. Add the ground venison, cheese, parsley, eggs, salt and oregano and combine. I like to actually work the meatloaf mix well because the bread and vegetable mix will keep it moist and tender -- normally you don't want to over work meatball mixes, but this is an exception. It will help the meatloaf bind together better.

Step 4

Grease a loaf pan; I use butter. The pan I use is a Pyrex 1 1/2-quart pan that is 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Something more ore less this size will be fine. Or, you can set the mixture on a greased baking sheet and mold it into a loaf. Pack the meat mixture into the pan and bake it until the center reads about 155°F, which will take roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes. I put the loaf pan on top of a baking sheet to catch any overflow of fat or tomato sauce.

Step 5

About 30 minutes before the meatloaf is ready (shoot for the 45-minute mark), paint the top of the loaf with marinara sauce. Have some more sauce warming in a small pot to serve with the finished meatloaf.

Step 6

Once the loaf is ready, sit it on the countertop for 5 minutes to rest before popping out of the loaf pan. Do this carefully. Slice and serve with sauce.