Turkey Meatloaf Topped with Home Made Tomato Sauce

Turkey is a very low fat mince, is extremely cheap to use, and best of all, it has a lovely taste.  It is also very versatile, and I often cook using this mince.

It is also an excellent source of protein and good if you are on a low fat diet.

You can buy it at all supermarkets nowadays, and I usually buy 500 g, use half and have some always in the freezer.

Often when I cannot think what to make for an evening meal, we have turkey balls with spaghetti, which is both easy to make, quick and delicious.  Having them on hand in the freezer is great for an emergency when I don't feel like being creative, or thinking about what to cook!

In this instance I made the turkey into a "meatloaf" and as I was having one of my grandchildren here for dinner, I also minced some carrot, and a few other vegetables, which he could not taste.  He is not a good eater, and that is how we get him to eat vegetables - by hiding them in certain foods.

I wanted some sort of sauce with this, and decided on a tomato sauce, as I had tomatoes growing in my vegetable patch outside.  These were sweet, Roma tomatoes and worked out well in the recipe.

Tomato can be a tricky food to cook, as often, if you buy them in a shop, they have little taste, and then when you cook them, they become bitter.  Hence you will notice if you use tinned tomatoes, there is always added sugar with it.  I did not use any sugar in this recipe however, so I would advise buying good quality tomatoes, or perhaps even vine ripened ones.

I actually put several vegetables in these which I would not have done if it were just the two adults eating together, as we both eat vegetables, and salad!

The vegetables included are all high in antioxidants, and once cooked, they were not noticed!

I have served this with a mash of broccoli and potatoes combined, as well as a dipping plate of the home made tomato sauce.

Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 70 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
500 g turkey mince
½ capsicum, diced
½ medium carrot, grated
½ medium zucchini, grated
1 egg
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground sage (or subs marjoram)
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
TOMATO SAUCE
200 g tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic 

Instructions
I made the tomato sauce the day before, however you can make it while the turkey is in the oven. If you want to save time, you could use a bought sauce, however home made WILL taste nicer.  You could make a sauce also with 1 cup of tomato sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, and 1 tbsp of sugar.

Fry the onions in a bit of oil until they are soft.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook.

Continue cooking till the mixture has thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring several times so it does not stick.

Preheat the oven to 180°C or 170°C if the oven is fan forced.

Put the turkey in a large bowl, and add the Worcestershire sauce, the egg (mine was a double yolker!), sage, garlic, Parmesan and a bit of pepper.

Next add the vegetables to the turkey mixture.

Mix until well combined -this is best done with your fingers.

In a small loaf tin, put some baking paper down, or else grease (it is far cleaner to use the baking paper).  Put the turkey mixture into this and press it down slightly.

Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes, then take out of the oven and drain the liquid carefully from the loaf.

Spread part of the home made tomato on the top, and stand in oven for 5 minutes.

While the turkey is cooking, boil the potatoes and when almost done, add the broccoli.

Mash this just before the turkey loaf is ready, adding a bit of milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Take turkey out of oven.

Slice the turkey to whatever thickness you want it, but not too thin.

Serve with a dipping plate of the home made tomato sauce, and the mash mixture.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

POTATO SALAD WITH PEANUT BUTTER

Pizza Toppings Using Leftovers

Chicken with Walnuts and Hoisin Sauce