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Little Sicilian Meat Loaves

Small meat loaves of ground beef wrapped around mozzarella and prosciutto or ham, served over fettuccine with pasta sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Little Sicilian Meat Loaves

Oven400 degrees
Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat loaves

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  2. Combine egg, 1/4 cup of the pasta sauce, the fine dry bread crumbs, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Add ground beef, mix well.

  3. Cut mozzarella cheese into four logs measuring approximately 2 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/2 inches. Wrap a slice of prosciutto or ham around each cheese log.

  4. Shape one fourth of the ground beef mixture around each cheese log to form a loaf. Flatten the four meat loaves to 1 1/2 inches thick and place in a shallow baking pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake loaves, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or till meat is done.

  2. Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions, and heat remaining pasta sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat till bubbly.

  3. Arrange meat loaves over hot cooked pasta on a serving plate. Spoon sauce over top and if desired sprinkle with cheese.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1501Calories
99 gProtein
51 gFat
154 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + pastatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,079 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Onion + pastatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ground beef
Forms the body of each loaf and gives it a meaty, firm texture when cooked.
Egg
Binds the meat mixture so the loaves hold their shape while baking.
Seasoned dry bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help keep the meat loaves tender rather than dense.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts into a soft, creamy center inside each loaf as it heats.
Prosciutto or ham
Adds salty, savory flavor that wraps around the cheese and seasons the loaf.
Pasta sauce
Adds moisture and tomato acidity and sweetness to the loaves and the sauce over the pasta.

The step that matters

Shaping the loaves around the cheese. The meat must fully enclose the cheese with no gaps, or it can leak out and burn during baking. Keeping the loaves flattened to an even thickness helps them cook through at the same rate.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, garlic, pasta, sauce, bread, pepper, beef):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, garlic, pasta, sauce, bread, pepper, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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