Hmmm…I think Fridays will be comfort food posts. It might be nice to have some kind of a schedule for posting, Let’s try it, shall we? Excellent.
So, I am on a quest to use up the huge amount of rosemary I snipped last week for the redesign picture. So, rosemary has been going in a lot of things — like yesterday’s lemon and rosemary biscuits. Here’s an apple and rosemary turkey meatloaf I made recently. Meatloaf is a funny thing — I don’t remember even liking it growing up at all — I mean, it’s a loaf of meat. Ew!
Then, I ordered it once when we were out — it was a chicken meatloaf and it was all appley and Dijon mustardy. Wow — that was good! Since that day, I have tried to make meatloaf at home every so often, using some Dijon mustard (instead of the ketchup that is usually in meat loaf recipes) and adding grated apple.
This time, I added apple sauce and rosemary. In addition, I used a little brown sugar and made my own sourdough breadcrumbs. I was pretty pleased with the result — a little sweet, tangy and very rosemary-flavored. One thing I did notice, is that there was a substantial amount of liquid in the pan after the cooking time. I just drained that out before browning the top. Also, the packages of ground turkey I buy at Trader Joe’s are usually 1 1/4 pounds — so that’s what I used. If you have a little more turkey (say up to 1 1/2 pounds), I wouldn’t worry about adjusting the ingredients all that much.
Apple & Rosemary Turkey Meatloaf:
1 small onion, diced
1-1/4 pounds ground turkey
1-1/2 cups dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spay a 9×5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, egg, apple sauce, mustard, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and rosemary. Press into the prepared pan. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 45 minutes, or until juices run clear when pricked with a knife and/or temperature is around 160 – 165. Remove from oven and carefully pour off any liquid that has accumulated in the pan. Turn broiler on high. Return meatloaf to the oven, 3 or so inches from broiler to toast the top. Watch carefully. This will only a minute or so depending on your broiler strength. Remove when the cheese is golden and crusty.
Let sit a few minutes covered with foil while you finish up the rest of the meal.
I served the meatloaf with roasted broccoli (recipe below) and mashed sweet potatoes. Those were simply peeled, cubed, boiled until tender and then mashed with a little chicken stock, salt, pepper and garlic. Okay, okay so I used one tablespoon of butter.
I’ll also confess to using a gravy packet. ::ducks::
Roasted Broccoli:
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Toss the broccoli florets with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet. Spread them out and then roast, until the edges are crispy and the stems are crisp tender, about 15 minutes.
Serve warm.
I found the wonder of the turkey meatloaf about a year ago in my “body for life” cookbook. So I’ve been v. excited to try your recipe. I wanted it NOW though as opposed to 2 months from now when I can eat everything, so I just made it, albeit a modified version for my diet. I hope I have not ruined it, and will not blame you if I did. I omitted the onion, cheese and oil, used cider vinegar instead of balsamic *sniff*, used equal instead of br. sugar, *wipe tear from eye* and made my own bread crumbs w/ 2 slices of diet bread. Ok, those are pretty hefty changes but the major stuff is still there. Count down 30 minutes. I’ll let you know how it went.
Oh, dear, I hope it works for you. You got rid of all the tasty things!!!! 🙂
Let me know how it works out!
Superyummiliciousbestmeatloafever is what I would call this. I could have eaten the entire 1lb loaf. Even without onion and cheese, the apple sauce and rosemary gave it the best flavor. David (though clearing his plate) was not as receptive, as he likes his meatloaf traditional with ketchup on top. I can’t wait to eat my leftovers for lunch today!
Oh, I’m so glad!!!
Yeah, jwa likes it but is not crazy about it, just because he’s not that receptive to meat in a loaf-size to begin with.
I really like this recipe too. The appley/vinegar/rosemary taste is awesome. Another thing you can try, which is a bit more traditional, is make a paste out of the mustard and brown sugar (when you can have brown sugar!), mix that together and make a glaze out of it, spread it on the top and then let that get all brown and crusty.
But me, I like cheese on top 😉
what happened to the 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil?
I do not see it used in the instructions
does it get mixed in with the rest of the ingredients?
Hmmmm…I believe at first I was thinking I would saute the onions in the olive oil before adding them to the meat mixture. But then when I made it, I decided not to and forgot to remove the olive oil from the ingredients. 🙂
That’s what happened! So, just disregard the olive oil. I removed it. Thanks for catching it. I hope you try this because as I remember, it was really good!