Recipe: Skinny Meatloaf

Funny story about this recipe. It's one of the first things that I remember "R" cooking for me when we started dating over six years ago. I was visiting from NY, we were having a romantic evening at his house, and it turned out to be a very memorable night...in not a good way.

I have an irrational fear of raw meat. I've actually never touched it before, like ever. I won't even pick up a package of raw meat at the grocery store. That night was as close as I have ever come to having raw meat touch my skin directly. "R" was whipping up dinner, and as he was combining all of the ground meat and other ingredients for the meatloaf, he somehow cut his finger (we're fuzzy on how). He was bleeding, and didn't have any Band-Aids. He said to me "You're going to have to finish this for me." This was my worst nightmare. I asked "Do you have plastic gloves?" The answer was no, and I started to panic. The ending to the story is that we had to take plastic wrap and wrap up each finger, palm, and up to my elbows for me to be able to mash the meat and other ingredients together in that bowl. My fear runs so deep that I half-considered allowing him to keep going even though he was bleeding from one finger. It is a night that I'll never forget, and that we laugh about now. Odd, but we hadn't made this recipe since that night....

It was time for its return, because it is a darn good light meatloaf.

Skinny Meatloaf with sweet and sour ketchup sauce (makes twelve 3/4" thick slices, total time = 1.5 hours)

Combine:
1/2 lb. ground sirloin (85% lean)
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1 cup panko or fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup onion, grated
2 egg whites
3 tablespoon 2% or skim milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Stir Together; Top Meatloaf With:
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, coat broiler pan with nonstick spray.
Combine ground meats, crumbs, parsley, onion, egg whites, milk, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper in a bowl, using your hands to mix.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan, shaping it into a 9"x5" loaf.

Stir ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar together in a bowl, then spoon on top of the meatloaf.
Bake until meatloaf reaches 160 degrees (about one hour).
Let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing.

We served the meatloaf with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with a Mushroom Sherry Sauce. More on that later!

These recipes were taken from the February 2008 issue of Cuisine at Home.

Luckily, this time, there was no bleeding and no need for me to take over. I happily just assisted with the non-meat ingredients.