meatloaf with tomato-bacon gravy
This recipe is inspired by a local hero in my neck of the woods, restaurateur extraordinaire Ashley Christensen. She has invigorated North Carolina's food scene with new energy and a delicious take on Southern comfort food. We owe her a hungry debt.
I've also lightened the recipe a little by substituting turkey in place of some of the ground pork, but it's misleading to think of this recipe as "light" in any respect. It's full of flavor from bacon, turkey, pork, and seasonings. I love to serve it alongside cooked spaghetti squash with extra gravy. I hope you enjoy this new take on a comfort food classic. The recipe follows.
Meatloaf with Tomato-Bacon Gravy
Adapted from Southern Living Magazine
Meatloaf
1/2 package center cut bacon (about 5-6 slices)
1 pound ground turkey (7% or more)
1 pound ground pork (preferrably pork shoulder)
4 eggs
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated red onion
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon sriracha hot chili rooster sauce
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 package center cut bacon (about 5-6 slices)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 1/2 pounds tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cut all of the bacon into 1-inch pieces. Place about half of the pieces into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Reserve the other pieces for the gravy.
In a large bowl, combine, bacon, turkey, pork, eggs, breadcrumbs, grated onion, pepper, hot sauce, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and kosher salt. Combine thoroughly with your hands, but try not to overwork the meat.
Divide the meat mixture in half and shape into 2 small loaves. Place a cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray, then place the loaves gently on top of the cooling rack. Alternatively, place the loaves directly on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Some of the fat will drip off onto the cookie sheet as the loaves bake.
Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, which may take up to 1 hour and 45 minutes. (A full size loaf will take up to 2 hours). The meat should be cooked completely and all the way through. Once it hits 160 degrees in the thickest part, they loaves are fully cooked.
Meanwhile, make the gravy. In a large skillet, cook the remaining bacon pieces until crisp. Remove the cooked pieces to a paper towel to drain, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Place the tomatoes, cut-side down into the hot skillet and allow to cook undisturbed for a few minutes. Add sliced onions. Allow to cook 5 more minutes, then turn the tomatoes. Ideally, they will start to brown, but they will also release a lot of liquid. Cook another 6 minutes on the other side, allowing the onions to soften alongside the tomatoes. Remove from heat.
Use an immersion blender or transfer to a food processor, pulse the tomato-onion mixture until coarsely chopped. Add the vinegar, mustard, and salt, and pulse until just combined. (In the photos above, I continued to blend to make a thicker and smoother mixture, but chunky is quite delicious also.)
Stir the cooked bacon pieces into the gravy and serve generously on top of thick slices of meatloaf.
Note: My next experiment with this recipe is to try cooking this meatloaf in a crockpot, since it takes so long to bake. I'm nervous, of course, that I'll lose some good crust with that technique. I'll let you know how it turns out. For now, I invite you to enjoy the lighter preparation that's been my favorite so far.
Ashley's restaurants, Poole's Downtown Diner (upscale Southern and bistro classics), Beasley's Chicken and Honey (gourmet fried chicken and Southern sides), and Chuck's (a burger joint), are among my absolute favorites and have garnered national attention. (Word on the street is there's another on the way.) Among her many accolades, Ashley was featured on Iron Chef America, by the James Beard foundation, in Bon Appetit magazine, in a recent multi-page spread in the trendsetting Garden & Gun magazine, and-- my favorite-- with a humble meatloaf sandwich recipe in Southern Living.
At the recommendation of a friend and fellow gourmand, I've adapted the recipe so the meatloaf bakes without a loaf pan, creating two free-form meatloaves that are a bit smaller and with more crust. After all, I usually go for the end piece anyway. You can accomplish this by forming the meat mixture into loaves with your hands on a lightly greased cookie sheet, or, as I like to do, on a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet. This allows quite a bit of the fat to drip out of the meatloaf as it's cooking. The result is less grease, more crust, but still a moist and flavorful loaf. The gravy is even better.
I've also lightened the recipe a little by substituting turkey in place of some of the ground pork, but it's misleading to think of this recipe as "light" in any respect. It's full of flavor from bacon, turkey, pork, and seasonings. I love to serve it alongside cooked spaghetti squash with extra gravy. I hope you enjoy this new take on a comfort food classic. The recipe follows.
Meatloaf with Tomato-Bacon Gravy
Adapted from Southern Living Magazine
Meatloaf
1/2 package center cut bacon (about 5-6 slices)
1 pound ground turkey (7% or more)
1 pound ground pork (preferrably pork shoulder)
4 eggs
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated red onion
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon sriracha hot chili rooster sauce
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 package center cut bacon (about 5-6 slices)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 1/2 pounds tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cut all of the bacon into 1-inch pieces. Place about half of the pieces into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Reserve the other pieces for the gravy.
In a large bowl, combine, bacon, turkey, pork, eggs, breadcrumbs, grated onion, pepper, hot sauce, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and kosher salt. Combine thoroughly with your hands, but try not to overwork the meat.
Divide the meat mixture in half and shape into 2 small loaves. Place a cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray, then place the loaves gently on top of the cooling rack. Alternatively, place the loaves directly on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Some of the fat will drip off onto the cookie sheet as the loaves bake.
Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, which may take up to 1 hour and 45 minutes. (A full size loaf will take up to 2 hours). The meat should be cooked completely and all the way through. Once it hits 160 degrees in the thickest part, they loaves are fully cooked.
Meanwhile, make the gravy. In a large skillet, cook the remaining bacon pieces until crisp. Remove the cooked pieces to a paper towel to drain, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Place the tomatoes, cut-side down into the hot skillet and allow to cook undisturbed for a few minutes. Add sliced onions. Allow to cook 5 more minutes, then turn the tomatoes. Ideally, they will start to brown, but they will also release a lot of liquid. Cook another 6 minutes on the other side, allowing the onions to soften alongside the tomatoes. Remove from heat.
Use an immersion blender or transfer to a food processor, pulse the tomato-onion mixture until coarsely chopped. Add the vinegar, mustard, and salt, and pulse until just combined. (In the photos above, I continued to blend to make a thicker and smoother mixture, but chunky is quite delicious also.)
Stir the cooked bacon pieces into the gravy and serve generously on top of thick slices of meatloaf.
Note: My next experiment with this recipe is to try cooking this meatloaf in a crockpot, since it takes so long to bake. I'm nervous, of course, that I'll lose some good crust with that technique. I'll let you know how it turns out. For now, I invite you to enjoy the lighter preparation that's been my favorite so far.