I was reading about Portuguese Cuisine and read that common flavors in Portuguese Cuisine are Piri Piri, Cinnamon, Paprika and Bayleaf. I thought that would be easy to put in a meatloaf so that’s what I did. The Piri Piri Pepper is hard to come by so I used Nando’s Brand Piri Piri Sauce that contains real Piri Piri Peppers. For the sauce I used slow roasted tomatoes that I cooked at 200 degrees F for most of a day that are very concentrated and sweet. You can use canned or roasted but your tomatoes might not be as sweet so you might have to adjust and add sugar. I served the meatloaf with black rice cooked in vegetable broth with black beans.

Ingredients for 8 servings

1/2 medium sweet onion – chopped fine

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 XL eggs – slightly beaten

1 Tablespoon vegetarian soup base (This is instead of salt as it’s salt with flavor)

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons Hot Piri Piri sauce (I used Nando’s Brand)

1/3 cup lager

1 cup panko bread crumbs (I used whole wheat)

1 lb ground turkey

1/4 cup parsley

non stick spray

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for sauce)

14 oz cooked tomatoes (mine were slow roasted and concentrated, you might need sugar) (for sauce)

1 red bell pepper – chopped fine (for sauce)

1/2 medium sweet onion – chopped fine (for sauce)

1 celery rib – chopped fine (for sauce)

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste (for sauce)

1 Tablespoon – course sea salt (for sauce)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper (for sauce)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (for sauce)

5 bay leaves (for sauce)

8 black olives – quartered (for sauce)

Directions set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray baking sheet(s) with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine 1/2 onion, 3 ground garlic cloves, eggs, soup base, 3/4 black pepper, 1 teaspoon thyme, both paprikas, cinnamon, piri piri sauce, lager and panko. Mix well.

Mix in the turkey and parsley. The mixture will be extremely moist. Measure out  the individual meatloaf in 4 ounce portions and place on sprayed baking sheet(s) like this.

Place them in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked and then remove from oven.

To make the sauce

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat with the olive oil. When hot add the bell pepper, onions and celery and salt. Cook till tender. Add garlic till mixture seems fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients. The sauce might be ready in a few minutes depending on how your tomatoes are…Cook till you think your tomatoes are ready and do a taste test for seasoning. You might need a small amount of sugar if your tomatoes aren’t sweet enough. REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES).

Enjoy!

Delicious!