Turkey meatloaf

Contributed by Preston Maring, MD


Turkey meatloaf

A comfort food for many people, meatloaf is great for a winter dinner. It may be an excuse to use ketchup and some have been known to eat leftovers for breakfast. A meatloaf sandwich can be a treat.

This version, modified from a recipe found on Epicurious, uses ground turkey rather than beef. Roasted red pepper sauce can be a good substitute for ketchup. Happy 2013.

Servings: 8 (at least)

Ingredients

  • 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 medium carrot, small dice
  • 3/4 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed, finely chopped in a food processor
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  • 5 tablespoons ketchup (or roasted red pepper sauce)
  • 1 cup whole grain breadcrumbs
  • 1/3 cup skim milk
  • 1 whole egg, lightly beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
  • 1 egg white, lightly beaten (or an additional 3 tablespoons egg substitute)
  • 1 1/4 pound ground turkey mix of white and dark meat

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
  2. Cook onion and garlic in oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderate heat for a couple of minutes then add the carrot. 
  3. Cook until the carrot is starting to soften then add the mushrooms and 1/2 of the salt and pepper. The mushrooms will release liquid and cook until it has evaporated. 
  4. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, parsley, and 3 tablespoons ketchup, then transfer vegetables to a large mixing bowl. 
  5. Stir together bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl and let stand 5 minutes. 
  6. Stir in egg and egg white, then add to vegetables. 
  7. Add turkey and remaining salt and pepper to the vegetable mixture and mix well with your hands. Or, you can use a kitchen tool. 
  8. This is one of my favorites — don't have a name for it but it looks sort of like a mini rug beater. (Mixture will be very moist.)



  9. Here's where I went wrong a little. You are supposed to shape the mixture into an oval on a baking sheet about 9 inches long.

     

  10. Allegedly the meatloaf was supposed to take 50 to 55 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 170 degrees as measured by a meat thermometer. That may have been the case if the meatloaf was thick enough but my thinner version reached the target temp in only 25 minutes. Then I went through the trauma of not knowing if I had inserted the thermometer too close to the baking sheet giving me a false reading. 25 minutes felt too short so I empirically added another 10 minutes or so and resorted to the tried and proven fork method ( see evidence here).

     

  11. The meatloaf was great though a 1/2 cup of parsley doesn't really count as a serving of vegetables. So I cooked up some kale, garlic, and crushed red chilies.