This belting classic hardly needs an introduction - but forgive us, we're excited... A gorgeous meatloaf topped with bacon, and baked with carrots and spring onion - not only is it utterly delicious, it also makes a beautiful base for the gravy. We're serving this treat with roast potatoes. Enjoy!

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 225 degrees convection.

2. Peel the onion, and blend it finely in a mini chopper or food processor with a tiny bit of the milk. You can of course just chop it with a knife, but when you blend it with milk, you avoid chunks of onion in the farce.

3. Mix a farce from the mince, onion, thyme, milk, salt, egg, oats, and a crack of pepper. We suggest cooking a little nugget of the farce on a pan, so you can taste if the seasoning is to your liking. Oil an oven dish with some olive oil, and shape an oblong meatloaf in the dish. Coat the loaf with bacon slices, so it covers all of the exposed farce. You can halve the slices, or tuck the ends under the loaf, if needed. You may not need all of the bacon - the rest can go in the freezer.

4. Peel the carrots and cut into thick slices. Rinse the spring onion and make sure they're clean from dirt. Surround the meatloaf with the veggies in the oven dish.

5. Pop the dish in the oven for 15 minutes at 225, just enough for the bacon to brown a bit. Then lower the heat to 200, pour half of the milk for the gravy into the dish, and cook another 30 minutes or so, until the meatloaf is cooked through.

6. Meanwhile, scrub the spuds clean and cut into wedges. Place on an oven sheet lined with baking parchment and coat with a good dash of olive oil. Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice and bake along with the meatloaf for 30-40 minutes, until beautifully golden. Remember to turn them about halfway through.

7. When the meatloaf is cooked, pour all of the juices from the dish into a pot, add the rest of the milk for the gravy along with crumbled stock cube. Gently bring to the boil. Thicken with some corn flour stirred into a cup of water, add gravy browning to your liking, and season with salt and pepper.

8. Serve the yummy meatloaf with crispy potato wedges, gravy, and the roast veggies. Enjoy!

Tip

Tasks for kids in the kitchen: Let your kids help roughly slice the carrots. They can also stir the gravy, help with tasting, and cut potato wedges. If you want to keep the dish a bit leaner, swap the bacon for parma or serrano ham.