When the days start to get colder and night comes earlier there is a certain excitement I feel towards meat again. Summer salads are not quite as appealing anymore. The Cooking With Emeril section of Everyday Food had an easy meatloaf that I just had to try. (Page 38, Sept 2010) Truly, I think it is my new favourite meatloaf…and that is saying a lot because I love meatloaf.
Meatloaf is one of those things that can be a perfect food when done well. Instead of using the common egg and breadcrumb combo with a little ketchup, Mr. Lagasse throws some evaporated milk and rolled oats together, mixes it up with some sauteed veg and tops all that off with some tangy chili sauce. Brilliant, I say. Perhaps I don’t get out as much as I should but I got pretty excited about this loaf. And what goes better with meatloaf than a creamy mash potato and some cauliflower.
I would have said previously that cauliflower was just one of those vegetables I don’t even bother trying to get my family to eat. Jimmy loathes it and therefore so does mini-Jimmy…aka Clara. (Does that mean I have 3 Jimmys) Anyway, In a last effort to redeem the poor pale vegetable I tried a Roasted Cauliflower with Cheddar from the same September EverydayFood Magazine. Success!! And I am quoting this, Not only is this cauliflower edible…Its downright delicious. I think I actually teared up. 
I pretty much dare you to try this one on your own cauliflower haters. Double dare. We shall see.
Emerils Meatloaf with Roasted Cauliflower and Cheddar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 ounces turkey bacon, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 1/4 cups chili sauce (sweet) or ketchup
Set oven to 350*.
Cook bacon in a large skillet over med-high heat until almost crisp (4mins).
Add onion, green pepper and cook another 4mins.
Add garlic and cook 1min.
Place vegetables in a large bowl with oats and evaporated milk. Cool a bit.
Add turkey to the bowl along with a bit of salt, pepper, 2T of chili sauce and stir.
Transfer to a 5x9inch loaf pan and smooth top. Pour and spread the rest of the chili sauce over the top and cook about 1hr 10mins
Cool 20mins before slicing.
Roasted Cauliflower
1head cauliflower, cut into med florets
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
coarse salt and fresh pepper
1C Cheddar
Preheat oven to 450*. Toss florets, Oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Roast 20mins tossing half way through.
Shove all the florets to the middle and grate cheese over it. Return to oven cook 2 more mins.
Enjoy.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Fabulous, Jess! I am mustering courage…..might even do this one tonight.
Hey…is ground turkey generally a “hard-to-find” item?
We just failed at two stores…..
Not usually, but I used ground chicken.
Is ground chicken easier to find? I guess it would be. How bad am I if I use half turkey and half beef.. Audrey did manage to locate a small pack of ground turkey at Walmart of all places.
Well i guess the answer is in how it tasted.
How was it?
We’ll know in a few hours.
OK….as I’ve said before, I am unable to follow any recipe completely. So here’s how I changed the meatloaf:
We could only find the smallest possible pack of ground turkey, and I didn’t have a minute today to go out hunting for ground chicken….so we made it with a beef and turkey mixture which leaned more toward beef. And I think Jon has a pretty low opinion of any bacon that’s not pork, and not wanting any children to chant “turkey bacon, turkey bacon” and ruin dinner, I just used REAL bacon.
And I replaced the hot sauce with Janis Freeman’s homemade salsa….delish!
Oh, I also added some chopped celery to the sautee of vegetables, and a dash of cumin. I cooked up a little piece to pre-taste it, and it’s pretty fine.
Serving this with the cauliflower, which is being prepared just the way Jess did, and also black beans with tomatoes and salsa and a little green salad.
thank you Jess and Janis!
Final verdict:
This is the best cauliflower I have ever tasted. I will never steam again.
The whole meal was a hit.
Black beans w/ tomatoes and sour cream and spring onions were really nice as a side.
Yea! I finally had a chance to try the cauliflower dish. I NEVER buy cauliflower, but your comments have stayed with me all these months, and finally I bought cauliflower and tried it! We all loved it! We’re eating vegetables! I am so happy!