The advent of cable TV in the late 20th century created nationally known chef celebrities with all kinds of personalities. Jacques Pepin seems to be one of the more believable ones, and won points in bob's rating book for his series "Cooking With Claudette", his cute twenty something daughter at the time of the season, of which we caught maybe two episodes. [We impress easily.] He also has a cooking pedigree that dates back to Julia Child's first cookbook, in which he played some kind of consulting role that led to their lifelong friendship. More to the point ani had already picked up one of his healthy cooking cookbooks where we discovered his delicious solution to the post-Thanksgiving leftover turkey problem: turkey meatloaf.
Then we discovered that it easily converts to any kind of meat-based meatloaf and still remains delicious, taking us a great leap forward from the early days of bob's canned mushroom soup meatloaf. We like this a lot and actually make it quite often, probably since it is an addictive comfort food when accompanied by garlicky mashed potatoes and a little red wine.
original recipe | ani's version (can be halved) | ani alternate version, yum | ||
1 1/2 lb ground turkey breast | 2 lb ground veal/pork/beef pack or turkey or leftover turkey |
1 1/2 lb ground beef, whatever | ||
4 slices bread into 2 c breadcrumbs | 2 c breadcrumbs | 1 1/2 c whole wheat panko | ||
8 scallions | 2 scallions | 1 stalk celery, finely chopped | ||
2 -3 medium domestic mushrooms | 4 medium domestic mushrooms | 4 domestic plus 4 shitake mushrooms | ||
1 small onion | 1 large onion | 1 leek, 1 shallot, finely chopped | ||
1/2 c whole chicken stock or low salt canned chicken broth | 1/2 cup no MSG veggie broth | 1/2 c no MSG veggie broth | ||
1 egg, 1 egg white | 2 eggs | 1 egg | ||
2 - 3 cloves garlic | 4 cloves garlic | 4 cloves garlic | ||
1 small piece fresh ginger | 0 ginger (ani veto) | |||
1 t salt (adjust if canned broth) | 1 t salt | 1 t salt | ||
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper | ||
1/4 t cumin | 1/4 t Middle Eastern allspice | |||
options: | 2 T ketchup | |||
1/2 red, 1/2 green peppers, chopped | ||||
2 stalks celery, chopped | ||||
4 white mushrooms, chopped |