Down Home

I watch a lot of shows on the Food Network, yet its rare that I'm inspired to make the meal that I see prepared. However, last weekend I was watching an episode of Down Home with the Neelys and thought "I would make every one of those recipes!" I didn't make every one, but I did make two for our dinner with friends Lauren and Pat and their son Ryan. The first was this barbecue turkey meatloaf, and I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. I did not make the barbecue sauce from scratch, as the recipe suggests, but instead used a bottle of Kansas City Barbecue Sauce. Also, rather than make up an entire batch of the Neely's barbecue seasoning, I simply added a few pinches of the paprika, sugar and onion powder. I thought this meatloaf was great - nice and moist with a tangy kick. And pretty healthy too!


BBQ Turkey Meatloaf

Pinch paprika
Pinch sugar
Pinch onion powder
1 teaspoon crab boil seasoning, (recommended: Old Bay)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce, reserving 1/2 cup for the top
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped red onion
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 pounds lean ground turkey
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix BBQ seasoning, crab boil seasoning, soy sauce, beaten egg, 1 cup of the BBQ sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
In a saute pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add onion, bell pepper, salt and pepper and garlic. Saute until tender. Remove from heat and add to wet mix.
Pour mixture into bowl with the ground turkey. Add bread crumbs and mix all together with your hands.
Transfer the meat mixture to a cookie sheet or baking pan. Using your hands, shape the meat into an oblong or rectangular shape. *Cook's Note: Alternately, you can pat the meat into a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and pour 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce on the top of the loaf.
Bake for 35 minutes. Remove and add the reserved 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce to the top and continue to bake for 20 more minutes.