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

[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.