Greek minced meat roulade from the oven

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 1 kg minced meat, beef, pork, lamb or mixed
• 200 g sheep’s cheese
• 400 g leaf spinach, frozen
• 100 g pine nuts, roasted
• 6 slices of bacon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 m.-sized egg(s)
• 1 dry bread roll
• some salt
• some pepper
• some spice mix (gyros)
• some rosemary or thyme
• some oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Mediterranean meat side dish that is quick to make

Thaw the spinach, squeeze it dry, and season with salt and pepper. Soak the dry bread roll in warm water and squeeze it dry as well. Thoroughly mix the minced meat with the squeezed bread roll, the egg, the crushed or finely chopped garlic cloves, and the spices. You want a smooth, slightly over-seasoned mixture. Lightly oil a large piece of baking paper (about the size of a baking tray). This prevents the mince from sticking. Shape the mince into a rectangle and spread it on the paper about 1 cm thick. Make sure there are no holes. If there is too much mince, simply form meatballs and fry. Place the rectangle long side toward you and top it, leaving a border of about 3 cm free. First, cover one half of the short side with the bacon slices. Then add a layer of torn spinach, then the pine nuts and crumbled feta cheese. Press everything down lightly. Now, starting from the short side with the filling, roll up the roll using the baking paper. Smooth the side seams and the main seam evenly, and then lift the roll onto a baking sheet using the baking paper. Bake the roll in a preheated oven (170°C fan/convection oven, 190-200°C top and bottom heat) for about 60 minutes. Serve with a Greek salad, tzatziki, and flatbread. Tip: I usually make two smaller rolls and freeze one.