Day3 - Tourtiere Meatloaf with Mushroom Sauce

Today is my Splurge Day!  I'm going to totally blow my diet today by design.  Every month I have one Guinea Pig dinner party where I create something I've been wanting to try and feed it to the six poor willing guinea pigs that we invite to try out my creations.  I can't remember what weight watchers used to call it, but they gave you a forgiveness or mulligan day and this is it for the month for me.

My mom has this recipe for meatloaf that is baked in a bread crust and I've always loved it.  It used to be a joke around our house, my wife would ask what I wanted for supper and Mom's meatloaf was the automatic reply.  But I've wondered for awhile what it might be like if I added some of the spices from Quebec's famous Tourtiere meat pie.  So I did some research and almost every recipe called for cinnamon, allspice and ground cloves.  And I decided to add garlic, parsley and celery to the recipe.  And one fellow who used to make the pies commercially said to use the egg wash on the bottom of the pie to create a barrier so the juices don't make the bottom crust soggy.  And we basted the outside with same eggwash to make it crispier.  And we added and egg and some Sprite to the crust to make it more fluffy.  And I started from scratch with the sauce and rebuilt it...  LOL, I guess the original recipe has been completely reinvented!

My guinea pigs loved it!  Mom said it was the first time she didn't have to add sauce or ketchup to it.  One small oops was that I creased the pastry on top to make a flower stem (having way too much fun with the pastry!) and poked through all the way in the middle to make a steam vent, and during baking the pastry pulled apart all along the stem line as you see in the picture.  I wouldn't make a vent next time.  Even so, everyone said it was the best meatloaf they'd ever had.  So, without further ado, here is the reimagined Mom's Meatloaf!

Tourtiere Meatloaf

Logan Rating

Serves 10-12 - 240 calories per serving (without mushroom sauce)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

2/3 can evaporated milk

1/2 cup finely crushed soda crackers (about 11)

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic 

1 stalk diced celery

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

3 Tbsp minced parsley

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Crust

1 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

Sprite (I used Sprite Zero)

Egg Wash

1 egg

1 Tbsp milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Mix first set of ingredients together until well blended.  Shape into a 9 inch long.  Set aside on a piece of wax paper.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together.  Cut in shortening into flour mixture as for pastry (until the shortening are the pea-sized).  Add the milk; crack egg into 1/3 cup measuring cup, fill remaining space with Sprite and add to flour and mix.  Roll out onto floured surface and knead 20 times.  roll into 12 inch square.  Brush dough with egg wash to keep meat juices from making dough soggy.

Put meat log in center of pastry and fold over the pastry covering the meat and seal the side and ends.

Place on baking pan sealed side down.  Brush top crust with the remaining egg wash.

Bake at  425 F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat for 325 F for 70 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.  Remove from oven, slice and serve with optional mushroom sauce.

Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove mince garlic

1 can sliced mushrooms, drained well

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup beef broth

1 cup milk (I used the rest of the can of evaporated milk as part of the cup)

1 can mushroom soup

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to pan on medium heat.  Add Basil, onion, garlic and mushrooms and saute until all water from the mushrooms has evaporated and mushrooms turn golden brown.  Remove the mushroom/onion mixture from the pan.

Add butter and flour and stir until mixture is browned.  Add beef broth and mix until thickened.  Add mushroom mix back in.

Add milk, the rest of the evaporated milk from the crust (about 1/8 cup will be left) and mushroom soup and stir until the sauce is thickened to desired consistency.

Remove from heat (or it will curdle when you salt it) and add salt and pepper.  Serve over meatloaf.

We served it with potatoes, corn and garden salad and Tolleys brought apple and coconut pie for dessert. (Mmmmmm Diane's Coconut pie isn't the typical coconut cream stuff, it was like macaroons, real coconut!  Mmmmmmm!)  I'm not even counting calories for Monday.  No point, LOL!!