If you are not already hip-deep in cabbage and corned beef for this weekend while slogging green beer, permit me to suggest a deep dive into the land of meatloaf. I have wanted to take the Pot Lucky into meatloaf territory for some time and finally got the chance. For a while now, I have been hosting a curated and themed potluck where guests bring their version or contribution to the theme du jour. Instead of different sides to complement a meatloaf, everyone brought a meatloaf. Crazy, right? Or luuuuuuuucky?? Where potlucks have random cubes of Velveeta with frilly picks, the meatloaf Pot Lucky has meatloaf, meatloaf, and more meatloaf. Bring containers because you will feast for the week.
Not only did guests show up with some creative styles – chorizo/beef with queso and fresh cilantro – but also different shapes – spam & ham muffins, dosed with caramelized pineapple, Hawaiian-style. Despite a few common ingredients, there was virtually no overlap with the Maui Wowie Meatloaf. It was great to see different spins on a theme. Both were unique and both delicious. The Maui Wowie was beef and pork, with a secret ingredient ….”the stale remnants of mostly gone cracker boxes lurking in the pantry”. When you think about it, kind of brilliant – using all those random odds and ends in a recipe that calls for stale crumbs anyway. That’s Pot Lucky. We also had an old timey meatloaf with mostly beef and a little piggy, and I brought a Blue Plate Special with a healthy dose of shiitake mushrooms to add that unctuous umami.
Truth be told that was my safety loaf. I created a lamb and veal loaf….My Big Fat Greek Meatloaf….but it was a maiden voyage. I couldn’t be loaf-shamed at my own gathering, so had to have a tried and true as a backup. I have now made the MBFG loaf several times and it does not disappoint. Chock-full of herbs and a healthy dose of feta and Pecorino, this loaf is kept moist with grated zucchini and a combo of ground lamb and ground veal.
If you can’t get your butcher to freshly grind the meat, be sure to combine the two meats well and work in all the ingredients evenly. I find that the vacuum-packed meat tends to be a bit harder to break up. The loaf won’t hang together fully if the ingredients are not well dispersed which can make the end result a bit crumbly. Basic meatloaf recipes will most likely use meats that are easy to source fresh ground – beef, pork, etc., but I realize that veal and lamb can be harder to come by fresh ground. There is nothing wrong with the Cryovac packages, but just use a little elbow grease when blending by hand.
The best tip I got came with the Maui Wowie: put slices of bread under the loaf – whether in a loaf pan or on a sheet pan or shallow roaster – to absorb all the juices. That is one issue I have always had with loaf pans – the juices bubble up the sides and keep the meat poaching in the juice and fat. Not only do you not shed all the unnecessary fat, you don’t get a crust because the sides are submerged in liquid. When I made My Big Fat Greek Meatloaf again, I tried a roaster with the slices of bread underneath and it got a nice crust on the sides (the top is covered with a chunky tomato glaze) and the cheeses get a lovely toasted flavor. Simply leave the slices behind when ready to serve. Or sneak a bite of crust, just to make sure you aren’t missing anything. No one is looking.
This and a big salad are all you will need for a feast. I use a lot of herbs including dill, cilantro, mint and parsley. Adding fresh herbs to any salad really elevates the profile. Okay – I lied. You can’t have meatloaf without a big batch of my goat cheese and thyme mashed potatoes. Oh, and a big pot of green beans tossed with shallot butter. This is a meal worthy of 4 face plants. Yum. Yum. Yum and yum!
I hope you are dabbling in the Pot Lucky. Potlucks are so yesterday. Why have one meatloaf when you can have six? Are you with me? In case you missed it, past Pot Luckys are linked below.
My Big Fat Greek Meatloaf is a new spin on an American Classic! Packed full of herbs and flavorful cheeses, this entree is the perfect foil to creamy mashed potatoes and shallot green beans. Sunday dinner will never be the same.
Ingredients
Scale
3 slices whole wheat bread, torn into pieces + 2 slices to line the pan
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound ground lamb
1 pound ground veal
1 small zucchini, grated
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped oregano
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Zest of one lemon
1 egg
Topping:
1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilis, with juices
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup chopped mint
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375oF. Pulse the bread in the work bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. You should have about 2 cups of crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Season with salt and red pepper flakes.
Put two pieces of bread side by side in the bottom of a shallow roasting pan.
Make the topping:
In a small saucepan, heat the tomatoes, brown sugar, ketchup, and mustard. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 4 – 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and cool. Stir in mint and set aside.
Make the meatloaf:
Add the lamb, veal, zucchini, Pecorino, feta, parsley, oregano, garlic, lemon zest, and egg to the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Mix well by hand. Transfer to a cutting board and pat firmly into a loaf shape, about 9 x 5 inches, pinching together any cracks. Transfer to the roasting pan and place atop the bread slices. Make a slight indentation down the middle of the loaf.
Spoon the tomato mixture down the middle of the meatloaf and brush the juices across the top. Place in preheated oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Cool slightly, then transfer to a cutting board, leaving the bread behind. To serve, slice.
Notes
I find that the vacuum-packed meat tends to be a bit harder to break up. Basic meatloaf recipes will most likely use meats that are easy to source fresh ground – beef, pork, etc., but I realize that veal and lamb can be harder to come by fresh ground. There is nothing wrong with the Cryovac packages, but just use a little elbow grease when blending by hand. If the ingredients are not evenly dispersed, the end result can be a bit crumbly. Mix well and firmly shape the loaf.
Placing two pieces of bread side by side in the loaf pan or on a sheet pan helps sop all those liquids cooking off of the ground lamb and veal.
I’ve cooked this in both a loaf pan and on a sheet pan or shallow roaster, and prefer the latter two choices which gives more airflow and toasts up the cheeses creating a nice crust on the sides.
Prep Time:30 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour 15 minutes
Category:Entree
Method:Oven Roasted
Cuisine:American, Greek
Missed previous Pot Luckys, or don’t even know what a Pot Lucky is?
Nary has a Thanksgiving rolled by that I am not peppered with queries from dawn to dusk. I heed the call, alternating with “Gobble Gobble” and “Butterball Hotline.” This year, I say bring it on. I’ve got nothing but time. Yup! I have already cooked my Thanksgiving feast – the roast turkey and the gravy – and served it up with a “Family Favorites Pot-lucky.” Food served. Wine drunk. Dishes done. Trash at the curb. Sorry. Not sorry.
We gathered earlier this month and the pot-lucky theme was Family Treasures – the iconic culinary treats that are essential for fall family feasts. I brought Gaga’s Delmonico apples and a cranberry kumquat chutney, that’s a newer tradition. One couple brought a wonderful red and yellow beet with nutty goat cheese appetizer. The other dishes were both familiar and uniquely twisted – a modern green bean casserole & sweet potatoes with pecans, scalloped corn & sprouts with bacon, and mash taters & an amazing sausage stuffing. It was a tasty trip seeing how others celebrate the season.
And because it has been so warm, I was able to get most of the décor from the herb bed, grasses and colorful leaves. After one too many table settings that hogged the site line and got moved off the table about 5 minutes after we were seated, I decided to keep it low and used a collection of mismatched short silver cups, more commonly used at Derby time – julep cups! That plus a few candles and some nuts and gourds was all I needed.
I was also in charge of the turkey and over the years I’ve had my share of turkey prep. Some years I have gone from perfect turkey on the Today Show Thursday to turkey leftovers on Good Morning America Friday. By noon on Thursday when others were thinking about the big dance, I had moved on to leftovers prep. One year my balcony was lined by so many wall to wall coolers filled with turkey parts that you’d have thought I was running a soup kitchen. Suffice it to say I have done every show with every possible technique and turkey part. Whole turkeys, turduckens, spatchcocked and deconstructed. Done. It. All.
The real secret to Turkey Perfection comes from good preparation, organization, great ingredients and having the right equipment. My turkey this year came from Wise Family Farm and was about 16 pounds. I hope you are so lucky as to have a fresh, locally pastured bird, but if you are only able to source a frozen turkey, you need to get busy now. The safest way to thaw a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator over several days. And don’t forget that it takes 24 hours to thaw every 4 pounds of frozen bird.
If you head to my shop, you will find the tools I find most invaluable – a good Roasting Pan, about 2-3” deep (I prefer “stick” over non-stick – that results in a nice dark brown gravy), a Roasting Rack that raises the turkey for essential airflow, an Instant Read Thermometer to validate estimated cooking time, a Fat Separator to skim off fat and pour the rich stock from the bottom of the vessel, and anything written by Rick Rodgers, including The Turkey Cookbook, Thanksgiving 101, and The Big Book of Sides. I can safely say everything I know about turkey and gravy I learned from Rick. He IS Mr. Turkey.
I find the recipe below to be quite foolproof. It is a classic technique for an average-sized 18-pound turkey, but the instructions can be adjusted depending on the size of your bird. There are many tweaks and twists that can bedazzle the bird, but it always helps to know the basics before you start embellishing. Learned that one from Julia herself! And one of the things I learned from Rick is to have a stock pot going all day so that you can baste before your bird gets juicy and you have everything needed to make gravy, regardless of the amount of juices your bird yields. I have included details on how to do that so you can relax and know you will be gravy-prepared.
Roast Turkey Perfection with Gimme-More Gravy
Turkey Perfection
One (18-pound) fresh turkey
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
3 quarts turkey or chicken stock (I prefer low sodium since this will reduce for hours – you can always add seasoning later)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 sprigs Italian parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup* plus 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
*You may not need this if the turkey releases enough fat to yield a half-cup. Commercially produced birds tend to be fattier, but the pasture-raised bird I cooked was very lean and I needed to supplement with the butter when making the roux for the gravy.
Position oven rack in the lower part of oven and preheat to 325° F.
Remove any pieces/parts inside the turkey – the neck and giblets (which includes the gizzard, heart, and liver) – and set aside.
Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and wipe out the cavity. Rub cavity with salt and pepper and stuff loosely with 1/3 of the carrots, celery, and onions.
Pin the turkey’s neck skin to the back with a bamboo skewer or trussing pin. Tuck the wings akimbo (“hands” behind the back, elbows turned outward) to keep the tips from burning.
Place the drumsticks in the hock lock. Some birds will be butchered with a skin flap as shown above. Others may have a plastic loop to lock the legs. If all else fails, tie them together with kitchen string.
Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub all over with 2 Tablespoons softened butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Tightly cover the breast area with aluminum foil. (Not tented, just pressed tightly onto the breast. You will remove this during the last hour of roasting).
Pour 2 cups of turkey or chicken stock into the bottom of the pan and place in the pre-heated oven.
Stock Pot
As soon as the bird is in the oven, start the stock pot. This will give you juices for basting during the early hours when the bird hasn’t given off much liquid. It will also provide backup turkey stock for a bird that is a low juice producer.
Hack the turkey neck into 4 or 5 pieces. Trim away the gizzard’s silver skin and membrane and coarsely chop. Some like to also chop up the liver and heart and add it here, but I think they are a bit bitter when boiled. I’m more likely to save them and sauté later with onions and then add them to stews, fried rice, or place atop avo toast.
In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil, add the turkey neck, any giblets, and sauté until brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the remaining carrots, celery, and onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 1 quart of turkey stock, along with the parsley, thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer, using this to baste the turkey as needed. Periodically skim any floaters. (I’m trying really hard not to say scum, but you know what I’m talking about.) Add additional turkey stock to the pot to maintain a 1-1 ½ quart level.
Basting
Roast the turkey, basting all over every hour with the juices in the bottom of the pan or from the stock pot. Lift up the foil to baste the breast area. I usually rotate the pan periodically to make sure there are no oven hot spots and the bird roasts evenly. Roast until an Instant Read Thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh (but not touching the bone) reads 180° F and the breast is 165° F, about 4 hours. Whenever the drippings evaporate, baste from the stock pot and add a bit more stock to the roasting pan. Remove the foil from the breast during the last hour to let the skin brown.
It’s better to pad your estimated cooking time by 30 minutes, so nobody is standing around drinking too much while waiting for the bird. I say that like it’s a bad thing. I always defer to the thermometer, but use the times below as a guideline. Stuffing your turkey will add about 5 minutes per pound, so I cook the stuffing on the side (doesn’t that make it dressing??). Since you need to let the bird rest 30 minutes and carving takes time, you have most of an hour to finish or warm the rest of the sides when the oven is no longer needed for the turkey.
Estimated Roasting Times – Unstuffed Turkey – about 15 – 20 min a pound
Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter and let it stand for at least 30 minutes before carving. Pour any juices that have run off back into the roasting pan.
Gimme-More Gravy
Once the turkey is out of the oven and resting, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a Fat Separator or heatproof glass measuring cup. Let stand 5 minutes, then skim off and reserve the clear yellow fat that rises to the top. Measure 1/2 cup fat, adding butter, if needed, to make 1/2 cup.
Check the measurement on the broth remaining in the fat separator, once you have skimmed the fat. If you have less than one quart of liquid, add enough strained liquid from the stock pot to the skimmed drippings to make 4 cups.
Place the roasting pan on low across two stove burners (or scrape all the brown bits from the roasting pan into a saucepan) and add the turkey fat or fat/butter combo (1/2 cup total).
Whisk in the flour to make a roux, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and cook until the paste is lightly browned, about two minutes. Whisk in the turkey broth. Cook, whisking often, until the gravy has thickened and no trace of raw flour flavor remains, about ten minutes.
If desired, finely chop whatever giblets you have prepared and add to the gravy. Check the seasonings and add salt and pepper, as needed. Transfer the gravy to a warmed gravy boat.
Carving
Remove the wing and leg on one side and slice the breast, carving parallel to the center/breast bone. Repeat on the other side. It’s become very popular to remove the breast and slice cross-wise like a loaf of bread. It’s not the way I was trained. But my Dad’s process which took an hour to carve…one slice for the platter, one for the man with the knife….and never ended up with enough food on the platter (What? You want more than one paper-thin slice???) has left some family members in therapy. I can’t be sure but I think some people that I may or may not be related to shred their turkey by hand just to avoid any brush with our torturous past. You are on your own – #NoJudgment – but know that there are plenty of videos on carving techniques!
However you carve it, enjoy and be sure to smother with amazing gravy and serve with gratitude! And be sure to share your family favorite sides in the comments below.
Serves 18 with about 4 cups of gravy
Take a page from this book and consider liquid dessert! Kind of a perfect way to end a meal – no further chewing needed.
Gobble! Gobble!
This post contains affiliate links. For more of my must-have faves, check out my shop.
Bring your own pizza toppings. Pizza Party extraordinaire.
In case you haven’t guessed, these newfangled pot lucks (emphasis on the LUCKY, not the pot) are a big hit. Perhaps the reason typical pot lucks scare me just a wee bit is their origin. Historically, pot lucks date back to the European middle ages when nothing, but nothing, was thrown away. (Maybe we could take a tiny page from that lifestyle – I’m looking at you 40% food waste). Rather, leftovers were thrown into a pot and kept warm kind of indefinitely, available to any unplanned arrivals on short notice. This practice was especially prevalent in taverns and inns in medieval times, so no matter when you arrived, you could be treated to the “luck of the pot.” It’s entirely possible, to me at least, that modern day pot lucks could be of equally suspect food safety, never mind random items. But the Pot Lucky aims to change all that!
While on the subject of random items, who can forget the famous shrimp dip? My hosts, the charming Bob and Sally Oyler, were no doubt surprised when not only did a guest plop down a somewhat lame-ass (editorial comment mine, certainly not that of the gracious hosts) hors d’oeuvre smack dab in the middle of their fabulous holiday buffet, but said hors d’ was accompanied by kitschy recipe cards to take away. By the end of the party, pretty much every card remained – apparently not a dish that you really need (nor want, for that matter) a recipe for. And now, for more than 35 years, they have appeared in my mail, tucked inside Christmas cards from Sally, their daughter Barb, and most recently hand-delivered by a grandson, something of a recipe card mule, given he had no idea what was in the envelope he bore. I have gotten the last card from Sally, but trust, hope they will keep coming. Anybody want that recipe? I might have a few to share.
Like everything, pot lucks have a silver lining. The beauty of the pot luck is that it spreads both the effort and the expense and makes entertaining a you-don’t-have-to-be-Martha-Stewart snap. After the sausage making party and the soup swap, both definite fan faves, I landed on BYOPT – bring your own pizza toppings. A Pizza Party. “Best Party Ever”, according to one guest. I think part of the fun was that everyone got a quick turn at playing chef – drawing from the 40 some toppings, sauces, and cheeses that found their way to the kitchen island. And by playing chef, I mean this in the truest sense of the word – all the items were prepped (mise en place) and assembly is both the easy and the creative part. I committed to providing the dough (Trader’s Joe has fresh flour, whole wheat and herbed dough, as well as a frozen organic dough). Then I threw out some ideas for both pizza combos and individual toppings, organized by sauce/base, oils, toppings (veg and meat), and cheeses. You can plan it two ways – have people chose from a list of toppings and mix and match at the party, or have them bring enough for their own concoction and they are responsible for everything but the dough on that pie. We got a bit of both. Just a little coordination will keep you from having a lot of dupes.
I of course had to make a run to the Cheese Lady, not just for the fabulous ooey-gooey meltable cheeses, but also for her fine collection of oils and vinegars. I settled on a lemon oil (fabulous to drizzle with my lemon pistachio pesto) and a white truffle oil. Super aromatic oils like truffle need to be drizzled after the bake. They are too good to go on before the oven. Good news guys – a phone call to the Cheese Lady and these puppies can be on their way to you. They don’t ship cheeses, but do take phone orders on the wonderful assortment of oils and vinegars. There is a divine maple balsamic that makes a killer vinaigrette with the lemon oil, and the raspberry balsamic is wonderful drizzled into a seltzer. Super refreshing!
I had to get a couple cheeses that weren’t on my radar – one was meadowkaas which I did know about but didn’t expect to see til June. This is a special (aren’t they all?) style cheese that is made from the first milk from the cows that wander into North Holland’s (the Netherlands, not Michigan!!!) first grasses each spring. An importer found some 65 wheels from 2015 and upon Cheese Lady deeming it delish, they found their way to her. Yahoo! However, the other cheese I bought I had never heard – Kurpianka smoked cheese from Poland. Its touch of garlic and springy texture make it a perfect melting pizza cheese. Yum. Oh and it looks like a cheese grenade. I love that!
The most important detail you can tell your guests is to make sure the ingredients are “pizza-ready.” That means olives are pitted, zucchini and shiitake-types are quickly sautéed, and bacon is at least par-cooked. Otherwise you will get both a free for all with your limited space and a real mess. I considered a change of address halfway through the party. But a little organization goes a long way. I had a building station with sauces and oils, a topping station, a cutting station, a bar area, and a plates & salad serving area. My kitchen isn’t nearly as big as it sounds. But it worked – just barely. We had about 18 people and made about 13 pies. I find that so hard to believe because I swear I made 15 myself and ate at least 20. #CarbFreeMay
It helps to have some basic equipment – a Pizza Peel to transfer the prepped pizzas, a Pizza Stone or two (or three) always hot in the oven, pizza pans, and plenty of cutting boards and pizza wheels. Everyone brought what they had. I think there may have been six pies in the oven and two on the grill at one point. For the grilled pizza, we used the frozen dough. If you make your own or use fresh dough, it is best to roll it as thinly as you can and then freeze it to make a smooth transfer to the grill. Oil the grill and cook the dough on both sides to color and get grill marks. Then transfer to the building area where you can add toppings. Slide back on the grill and close the lid to melt the toppings. This will only take a few minutes. The oven (400-425oF) pizzas work well if you dust the peel with corn meal or make sure the dough is well floured and not sticky. Build the pie and slide onto the hot stones. All in all, it’s pretty neck-down in the execution, once you do a couple test pies to get down the technique.
We had some pretty fantastic Pizza Party toppings – here is a select list (email if you want my master list):
Sauces: red sauce, lemon ricotta, lemon pistachio pesto, fruit chutney, kale pesto, green olive tapenade, horseradish dill drizzle
Oils: EVOO, lemon oil, white truffle oil, Toasted Pumpkin Seed Oil (divine on the butternut squash ribbon pie), chipotle oil, fig balsamic
Arugula, charred scallions, roasted garlic, sautéed shiitakes, grilled zucchini and yellow squash, you’ll thank me in the winter oven dried tomatoes, sautéed broccoli rabe, fresh basil, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, spinach, roasted beets, dried figs, butternut squash ribbons (the Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer worked perfectly), Brussels sprouts, smoked salmon, capers, roasted plums, radishes – wait…..seriously??? A partial list????
Pepperoni, prosciutto, shredded chicken, ham, bacon, sausage
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to skim off fat and pour the rich stock from the bottom of the vessel, and anything written by Rick Rodgers, including 
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. I can safely say everything I know about turkey and gravy I learned from Rick. He IS Mr. Turkey.
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