Lamb & Turkey Meatloaf

The Hungry Skipper

I can never follow the recipe.

Good or bad, this Urban Skipper has too much bottled up creativity to just sit back and follow the instructions. Sometimes (more often than not, I hope), I can concoct an amateur culinary masterpiece. Other times … total fail.

Most recently, Chef Husband raked me across the coals during what I have called the Great White Trash Hot Wing Incident of 2019. His culinary friends were having a relaxed potluck BBQ this past summer. I was in charge of our appetizer.

Shockingly, Chef Husband craved the un-elevated, pallet warping acidity of good old hot wings. I took charge and made my usually substitutions and embellishments to that bulldozer hot buffalo sauce and delivered a zesty and refined, “adult” wing sauce.

He couldn’t have been more displeased. Sometimes, you just have to leave well enough alone. (Truth to tell, all his chef friends loved them).

Storytelling aside, tonight was not one of those nights. I have dished up a spin on classic meatloaf. This recipe came from a dire need to use some meat that has been on ice in our freezer since … well, I’ll just say since yachting season. Not all my experiments are a triumph but this one actually turned out.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 1 red pepper, diced

• 1 stalk celery, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tsp. white pepper

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 2 tbsp. oregano

• 2 tsp. 5-spice

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1/4 cup tomato paste

• 1 cup bread crumbs

• 1 lb. lamb + 1/2 lb. ground turkey

• 1/4 cup finely crumbled bleu cheese

• 1 egg, gently beaten

Directions

In large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add red pepper, celery and garlic and cook until pepper is soft. Stir in the pepper, salt, oregano, and 5-spice. Stir in milk and tomato paste. Remove from heat and let cool.

In large bowl, combine the vegetable mixture and bread crumbs with the lamb, turkey, bleu cheese, and egg.

Place in a large loaf pan. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Drain any juices. Let rest another 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Reception

Chef Husband appreciated the effort. I think he more appreciated that I deep cleaned the kitchen while the meatloaf was in the oven. I realized after the fact that I used 2 lbs of meat instead of the 1 1/2 lbs called for in the recipe. There were binding issues as a result.

Flavors were good, though! Dressing it with a drizzle of flavored balsamic vinegar (grape in our case) really brought it home.