Meatloaf

[magid]

I've been wanting meatloaf for a couple of days, but not regular meatloaf, the kind with onion and starch mixed in, ketchup on top. It's yummy, but not what I had in mind. I wanted something with more vegetables in it, something with a less homogenous texture.

I make meatloaf with ground turkey. This time, I got a pound of regular ground turkey and a pound of "white" ground turkey, which is leaner, and has less flavor. I decided that mixing them would let me have some flavor while making it lower in saturated fats.

First off, though, I roasted vegetables. Since vegetables are mostly water, I'd decided that cooking them first would be necessary, and roasting adds a bunch of flavor, especially in the caramelized-almost-burnt bits that tend to happen around the edges of the pan. So. I roasted a tray of Vidalia onion, red peppers, and halved cherry tomatoes. Next was a tray of Vidalia onions and eggplant. I put two heads of garlic next to the veggies on this one. I can only fit two trays of roasting veggies at a time in my oven, so I prepped the third tray, Vidalia onions and all the summer squashes I've gotten from the farm the last two weeks. Last was a tray of Vidalia onions and cauliflower, just because I had it and had oven space.

I mixed the ground turkey with two eggs, then added the first three trays of roasted veggies, along with the two heads of roasted garlic, and more freshly ground black pepper. I mixed it up, and put it in to bake. It takes a while to roast veggies; the meatloaf went in far later than I'd wanted.

When it came out, almost an hour later, it was pretty with the bits of veggies visible on top. I had a piece, and was surprised at how juicy it was; there was apparently a lot of liquid left in the veggies even so. This morning I had some for breakfast, and it's also yummy cold. The verdict: a lot of work, but if I have the time, definitely worth it.

Comments

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to try this. It sounds like a great Atkins meal.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd also thought about multi-grain flakes (the kind I add to bread), and I think they would've kept the meatloaf from having far more liquid than I'd expected, but for Atkinsing, I'd keep it as is. Er, as long as you're at a stage when you can have more than very limited kinds and quantities of veggies, that is.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Only stage one (the first two weeks) is so restrictive. I'd probably leave out the tomatoes, but the rest of those veggies are all okay.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to leave out tomatoes, myself, but then I'm a tomato-addict.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I love tomatoes, too, but alas! it is one of the "discouraged" vegetables.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I know. That's one of the reasons I couldn't choose Atkins.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Yum ... I think the best meatloaf I ever made was a spur-of the moment thing. I was making stuffed vegetables and ended up with leftover ground meat. So I decided to mix it with the insides of the veggies I'd hollowed out (eggplant & tomato) and then added parsley, onions, salt & eggs. It was good. Meatloaf with veggies is definitely more interesting (IMO) than the old-fashioned ketchup (yuck!) kind.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I actually like the ketchup kind (I remember vying with my brother for the bits with the most ketchup on top). But this version gives me a lot more scope, changing it from a recipe to a template, which is how I like to cook a lot of the time.

Your impromtu meatloaf sounds yummy. I'm unlikely to add parsley (the only thing I think of using it for is karpas), nor am I likely to be making stuffed veggies (I can't figure out why they're not interesting to me. They *should* be, but aren't.), but this sounds great. Did you cook the onions first?

There's a piece in one of the Laurie Colwin books on food in which she talks about meatloaf, making one with veggies and hard-boiled eggs layered inside, so it would have an interesting profile, but it was still plain old meatloaf. Mixing the veggies in makes a huge difference.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did cook the onions first. Onions bother my stomach if they're not cooked thoroughly, so it's usually one of the first things I do for any recipe involving onions.

I happen to be very fond of parsley, but I know not everyone is. Oh well.

There is a variant of meatloaf that I remember seeing a couple of times in Greece with scrambled-type eggs in the center. It was good. I've never made it, but I think the way it was done was like this: Make a sort of shallow trough out of ground meat (with a bowl-like center and low walls), put several beaten eggs into the trough, then cover with more ground meat.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond of raw onions, either; I'm always surprised when people have them on hamburgers or in salad, even if they're a sweet kind. Scallions, on the other hand, are pretty good uncooked.

I think it's something about the parsley texture, not so much the taste. And never thinking of anything I can do with it doesn't help.

Scrambled eggs in meatloaf sounds yummy; I would've thought that the eggs would work their way into the meat, rather than staying distinct. *makes a mental note to experiment with eggs not beaten into the meat*

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I guess it's a matter of taste. I once ate a whole raw onion as if it were an apple. Raw sliced onion on hamburgers is fantastic. And there are few flavors better than raw red onion on lettuce covered in Thousand Island dressing.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've heard of people doing that, but I couldn't. It's just too harsh. It's not spiciness, exactly; I like spicy food. But raw onions I've never managed.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

A couple things about parsley: Have you ever tried using the flat-leaf instead of the curly? The texture's different -- I personally like it better. Another thing I've heard of people doing (esp. with soups) is to put a few sprigs in cheesecloth to cook with the rest of the ingredients. That way you get some of the taste without the texture. Not sure how this could be translated to meatloaf, but anyway ...

I think the reason the scrambled eggs don't work their way into the meat is that the meat is mixed with breadcrumbs & eggs, so it's more of a solid, sticky mass than it would be if left alone.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've tried the flat-leaf; curly seems awfully popular around here. I know people who put parsley into soup, though I hadn't heard of using cheesecloth to keep it from ultimate soup joinage. I might have some cheesecloth around (though I'm unlikely to be soupmaking for a couple of months).

That makes sense about the eggs. My first thought would've been a thin layer of oil/ cooking spray/ some grease, rather like what I do to pizza crust before putting everything else on, to keep it from getting soggy.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

"I'm unlikely to add parsley (the only thing I think of using it for is karpas)"

Ah, parsley, the best breath freshener in the world!

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think of mint for that, not parsley. Perhaps I've been influenced by all those toothpastes over the years.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Mint freshens the mouth. Or, more accurately, masks the other odors in the mouth. Parsley oil has some quality (I have no idea what it is) that actually kills bad odors at their source, in the stomach.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Huh. Learn something new every day.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I actually made a meatloaf earlier this week - fried up some onions and sundried tomatoes, deglazed em with red wine, chilled 'em while I went off to do other things, added the meat and an egg and some matzah meal and some roasted garlic cloves and a bit of cider vinegar and some tomato paste. Yes, I did put ketchup on top. Baked, and pretty tasty.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds good, too. I was in the mood for more veggies, but certainly wouldn't've turned this down either. Hm.... perhaps next time I'll try rehydrating sundried tomatoes, instead of roasting grape tomatoes....