Turkey Meatloaf

When I think of meatloaf, I think of comfort food.  I also think of sitting in front of the tv with a frozen dinner.  Anyways, meatloaf is a classic dish that people either love or hate.  I must say, I was never a fan of meatloaf until I tried Ina Garten’s recipe.  It is the best meatloaf I ever tasted and the only meatloaf I will eat.  Even my mom love this.  My mom told me that my grandmother made the best meatloaf she ever tasted until she tried Ina’s.  I think Ina’s meatloaf beat my grandmothers.

What I love about this recipe is that it uses ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Even though it uses ground turkey, it’s very flavorful and moist. Trust me you’ll be running back for seconds. I love serving this meatloaf with mashed potatoes or steamed veggies.  Also, if I have leftovers for the next day, I love making a sandwich.  This recipe serves a lot, so I would recommend reducing the amount unless you are serving a lot of people.  If you are looking for ground turkey recipe, this is the one to try.

Turkey Meatloaf

From Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa)

3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions)

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup chicken stock

1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste

5 pounds ground turkey breast

1 1/2 cups plain dry bread crumbs

3 extra-large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup ketchup

Preheat the oven at 325 degrees F.

Heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add the chopped onions, salt, dried thyme, and cook until the onions soften a bit.  Combine Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste to the cooked onions.  Cook for another minute or two and then let the mixture cool off before adding to the ground turkey.

In a large bowl add ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs, and the cooled onion mixture.  Mix well until all the ingredients are comined.  Shape the ground turkey into a rectangular loaf and  place onto a ungreased pan.  Spread the ketchup evenly on top of the loaf and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the meatloaf is fully cooked through.

To Grandma

Sweet potato pie is something  that brings back memories of my childhood.  Every year, my grandmother would cook a grand dinner for every holiday and sweet potato pie was among the things she made.  Grandma would stay up late at night cooking a huge meal for the family.  When you wake up in the morning, you smell the food she prepared the night before lingering in the house.  My mom told me stories of my grandfather walking into the kitchen wee hours in the morning tasting a sample of the food grandma made.  Both grandma and my mom  knew the food was good, because you hear my grandfather smacking his lips as he ate.

Despite my grandma’s passing, my family continue the tradition of making sweet potato pie every holiday.  One year I broke the tradition and made a pumpkin pie, but I still prefer sweet potato.  This recipe is not my grandma’s.  Every time I would ask her for a recipe she couldn’t tell me the exact measurements that goes into a recipe.   I made this pie from watching my grandmother bake in the kitchen and based on how her pie tasted like.  I would stand in the kitchen next to her as she beat the sweet potato’s with her hand mixer while adding the remaining ingredients into the pie filling.   As she pour the orange filling into each pie crust and place them into the oven, my eyes would lite up, because I knew it was close to tasting time.

The fact that my grandma didn’t know the measurements of the ingredients, I think that what made her great cook.  Everything she made was based on her taste, which made things not so complicated.  Figuring out the right amount sweetness or saltines or liquids can be frustrating.  I know I get frustrated.  I know there’s a lot of people out there that have family recipes that don’t come with the exact measurements or no measurements at all.  I think family recipes are the best.  They are personal and they have stories behind them.

I want to dedicate this post to my grandma and to all the great cooks in other people’s lives.

To the great cooks!

Sweet Potato Pie

3 lbs cooked sweet potatoes

4 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 large egg (room temperature)

2 Prepared pie crust

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

Place your pie crust dough on to a pie pan.  Using a fork, prick the bottom and sides.  Bake accordingly to the pie crust instructions.

Using a hand mixer, break up the sweet potatoes in large a bowl.  Add butter, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and evaporated milk.  Mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated.  Add the eggs and mix well.

Pour your batter into the baked pie crust and baked for about 30 minutes or until filling set.  Cool before slicing.