Amazing Meat Loaf (and Tyler Florence)

We were fortunate enough to take a grown-up vacation to Napa Valley and San Francisco in October.  It was a decadent excursion full of delicious food and great wine, all in the company of beautiful friends.

While in San Francisco, our friend recommended we eat at Wayfare Tavern, one of Tyler Florence's restaurants. I own several of his cookbooks and have enjoyed watching his shows on The Food Network for years, so i thought it would be fun to eat at his restaurant. What I didn't expect was for him to actually BE at his restaurant! They seated us kitty corner from his booth and I had a direct line of sight to him the entire evening while I enjoyed a spectacular meal. Our server was kind enough to ask him to take a photo, so....

Of course, as soon as I got home, I re-read his cookbooks and decided to make one of my favorites from Family Meal - Tolan's Glazed Turkey Meat Loaf.

I know that meat loaf is sacred. Most people have a family recipe and they stick to it. I, on the other hand, like to experiment and find an alternative - something totally different from the beloved family recipe.  Since I'm not usually one to substitute turkey for beef (because I LOVE beef) this was a great alternative from my usual recipe. The flavors were incredible and I really didn't even notice (or care) that it was turkey!

I only made two small adjustments (which are already reflected in the recipe below) to reduce the salt, and I halved the glaze recipe - the original made waaaay too much.

Tolan's Glazed Turkey Meat Loaf (serves 8)

2 slices soft white bread, torn into pieces

2 cups whole milk

1 large yellow onion

1 cup diced thick-cut bacon, plus 6-8 strips

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 lbs. ground turkey breast

1 large egg

3 Tbsp. ketchup

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. salt

Glaze

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the bread and milk in a small bowl and set aside for several minutes

In a medium skillet, saute the onions, diced bacon and garlic over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until onions are translucent.  Scrape the mixture into a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes.

Add the ground turkey, milk-soaked bread (discard the remaining milk), egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and salt to the bowl with the onion mixture. Divide the mixture in half and form two oblong mounds onto the prepared baking sheet. Top with bacon strips.

Make the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Use a pastry brush to pain a thick layer of the glaze onto each bacon-wrapped meat loaf.

Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 or about 1 hour.  Let the meat loaves rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving. (you NEED to let it rest!)

I served it with mashed potatoes (of course!) and steamed broccoli. Leftovers were wonderful - and if you're into it, you can make a meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day.