Book: Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave
(link to recipe)
Ingredients, etc. set to prep.
This is my attempt at chopping, by knife, onions. I tried to mimic the chopping style of Rachael Ray however unsuccessfully.
Everything seemed to be going well up until this point and I thought that I was going to make something without any mishaps. Then after I opened the can of tomato sauce, I poured 90% of it into the bowl to mix together. I realized that I was not supposed to do that! That was supposed to go on top of the loaf after it was all mixed together. So I scooped as much as I could out of the bowl and back into the can. Added a few more oats to help bind the moist turkey mixture.
<Before baking.
<After baking.
I let it sit for about 15 minutes before I cut into it. Results? Bland and blah. I threw it out and heated up a frozen pizza in the oven. Goat cheese and spinach with roma tomatos... yummm...
You really expected healthy meatloaf to be that exciting? Regular meatloaf if boring enough. You could always make it more exciting. Add tomato sauce instead of ketchup. Dried or fresh basil, oregano, etc. Try Alton Brown's meatloaf, it isn't healthy, but it's pretty tasty.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you threw it out. That's too much food to waste, you could have made sandwiches with it or something.
And by the way to chop like RR you need a sharp $100+ knife and a lot of practice. I wish I could chop like that, but I am too scared I will chop a finger off.
WTF is that cow thing on your counter? I swear you have the weirdest tastes. :P
ReplyDeleteI expected it to be a tasty meatloaf, yes. But no, there was no way I was going to eat it later. I did use tomato sauce... remember that is what I dumped into the mixture by mistake as well as used as a topping.
ReplyDeleteThe cow with fishnets is a La Moola - Moola "piggy" bank. I think it's awesome.
IMO, there are two keys to flavorful meatloaf, and this can be done with any meat. First, saute the vegetables (chopped onion, fresh minced garlic, and a little bit of bell pepper) in a small amount of oil until they are softened. Second, use worchestershire sauce in the mix.
ReplyDeleteMy standard for 1 lb. of ground meat is to cook the vegetables (2 garlic cloves, 1/2 onion chopped, about 1/3 bell pepper), add 1 tbsp. of tomato paste, 1 tbsp. worchestershire sauce, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper, 1 tsp. salt and about 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Place it in the refrigerator for a few hours then make a loaf or patties which I bake on a rack for however long it takes to bake it through. Fat drips from the meatloaf if you cook it on a rack.
This always turns out well with chicken, pork, or beef.
Do you bake it at 350? For how long? I think I will try your way the next time I attempt a meatloaf.
ReplyDeleteI bake it at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes if I make burgers instead of a loaf. I like the burgers better because then I can just eat the leftovers without cutting things up.
ReplyDeleteIf I make a whole loaf, I make it into a ring shape for more even cooking and do it for about 40 minutes. The ring shape helps you not have to worry about drying out the edges to get the center to cook.
The volume of meat factors into this, but generally using burgers or a ring-shaped loaf cooked on a rack is "safe" at 35-40 minutes at 325. You should just cut into it and make sure that it has no pink meat in the center. If one burger or portion of the ring is pink inside, you put it back in for another 5-10 minutes and check a different part next time.
Good luck!