Meatloaf

For me meatloaf always conjured up images of gum snapping older waitresses in gritty late night diners and disgruntled hairnetted cafeteria workers, never homey thoughts of mom (although my mom certainly made a very good meatloaf). Since I have no personal experience with meatloaf in either of those settings, I blame Hollywood for giving meatloaf its bad rap. Thankfully, as an adult, my main personal memory of meatloaf, is how my friend J once gave her (crazy) cat the teensiest little taste of raw meat while making meatloaf and we spent the rest of the time it took to make the meatloaf fending off his dive bomb attacks on the meatloaf bowl. Fortunately I've been able to overcome my early prejudices (mainly due to the hilarity of a meatloaf fiend cat) and I really do enjoy meatloaf. Still can't say I love the idea of meatloaf, but this recipe is moist and delicious and definitely has earned a place on the table.

TURKEY MEATLOAF
from Barefoot Contessa

INGREDIENTS:
12-14 oz ground turkey (1 package, but I've noticed that packages of ground turkey vary in size)
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 t thyme
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C chicken stock
1 t tomato paste (if you don't use much of this, buy a tube rather than a can, it keeps better)
1/2 C bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 C ketchup
salt and pepper (I'd say maybe a large pinch salt?)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350F. In a small skillet, warm the olive oil over medium low. Add the onions and saute for 3-5 minutes until translucent (not browned). Add salt, pepper and thyme. Add the Worcestershire sauce, the chicken stock and the tomato paste. Mix and then turn off heat. Allow to cool. No seriously. Put it in a bowl in the fridge if you're in a hurry but don't pour the hot mixture onto your turkey meat and go to mix with your bare hands. You will be sorry. Okay. So when it's cool, add the onion mixture, plus the breadcrumbs, plus the egg to your ground turkey. Make sure everything's evenly distributed and then pop it in a loaf pan. Spread the ketchup on top. Then cook for 50 minutes.