Yet another turkey meatloaf recipe

This winter, on occasion, has left me reaching for the same old recipes. It was time to shake things up. The other day I found myself with some idle time on my hands. I was surfing various food websites when I found myself at Lidia Bastianich’s cruising for a new recipe. I found yet another recipe for ground turkey used in a meatloaf. Lidia’s recipe is turkey meatloaf with mushroom sauce...yum! It’s meatloaf with a delicious sauce with mushrooms, shallots, fresh sage, dry white wine and chicken stock.

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I only needed a few ingredients from Delicious Orchards for this recipe such as a red bell peppers, scallions and mixed mushrooms. The mushrooms are a combination of white, cremini shiitake or oyster. However, I only purchased white button mushrooms as I was going to substitute Williams-Sonoma’s Variety Blend Dried Wild Mushrooms. This is a blend of shiitake, portobello, oyster and chanterelle mushrooms that need to be re-hydrated before using. The recipe also called for fresh parsley, but lately I’ve been keeping it on hand as it comes in handy for recipes and garnishing.
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The meat mixture was a combination of crustless day-old bread cubes, milk, turkey, eggs, panko bread crumbs, grated Grana Padano cheese, red bell peppers, scallions and parsley. The meatloaf took approximately 15-20 minutes to put together. First dried bread cubes had to be soaked in milk. While that was going, I began chopping the vegetables for the mix. Once the bread had soaked for 10 minutes, the vegetables were ready to be incorporated into the bread cubes and then the ground turkey added. I had the turkey all prepped for baking for when my husband came home from work. The meatloaf bakes in the oven covered for 40 minutes, then 45 to 50 minutes uncovered.

When I got home from work, I prepared the sauce. I had all good intentions of rehydrating the dried mushrooms, however, I got lazy and just used sliced white mushrooms. While the sauce was delicious, I’m sure the other varieties of mushrooms would have added yet another layer of flavor. The sauce also had chopped shallots, fresh sage, tomato paste, dry white wine, chicken stock and more chopped parsley. It took approximately 20 minutes from start to finish.
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The meatloaf was scrumptious! The mushroom sauce that accompanied the meatloaf was a nice addition. The drizzle of sauce added another layer of flavor to the meat. I served it with a baked potato (it can bake with the meat or pop it in the microwave for 5 minutes till tender). The meal was another comfort dish for my winter recipe repertoire.