Comfort Food for Dim Sum Sunday: Layered turkey meatloaf with sundried tomato, garlic and spinach

La Diva's all time fave: hot roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy!

Hello gorgeous dears! When one talks about "comfort food," a million different ideas and dishes come to mind. Wikipedia explains comfort food as: a variety of familiar, simple foods that are usually home-cooked or eaten at informal restaurants. COMFORT FOOD is SO SUBJECTIVE! And, to La Diva, it depends on so many variables: one's ethnic background, what time of year it is and am I hung over? Let's face it, darlings, a LOT of the comfort food I partake in is when I've over-indulged yet again with the too-easy-to-drink-chardy cask! (The Never-Ending-Gobstopper of whinos everywhere! Until it's gone, that is!)

Darlings, some of us even consider comfort food to come in a bottle!

Comfort food to La Diva could be something as simple as hot buttered noodles with freshly grated parmigiano cheese or scrambled eggs, potatoes and sausage with lashings of ketchup and buttered toast. At times it could be a hearty Cincinnati-style five way chili with pasta, chili, cheese, sour cream and onions or even a sophisticated version of mac and cheese with gruyère, truffle shavings and cream.

I guess anything goes for me as long as it includes lotsa carbs and meat. And some sort of fat.

Home-made five way chili....if you see the diner versions, you'll find about a cup more of the neon orange cheddar cheese piled on top, comforting Ohioans since 1922!

However, my all time favorite comfort food would have to be a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy (mmm....gravy.....) Home-made or from the diner, La Diva loves it any way! My sidekick DJ Nevah L8's fave comfort food is steak and mash. Whatever food comforts you at whatever time....is comfort food. Whatever makes you feel all good and safe inside and satisfied....is comfort food.

Heart attack in a bowl: Beef Sundae from some dude in Michigan (of course.) When did we degenerate into creatures that find comfort food eaten all in one bowl like slop for a pig? Plates? Forks? Hello? Egad!

So, for the Karmic Kitchen's weekly Dim Sum Sunday's theme today is "comfort food" and La Diva was up for the challenge.

Today, I made a Layered Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-dried Tomato, Garlic and Spinach!

I got this idea years ago when Chef Paul Prudhomme's Cajun meatloaf was all the rage. I had the original recipe as well as a modified and lower fat version made with dark turkey meat. This idea transformed from there.

Fresh from the oven! Make sure you don't dry it out by overcooking!

Here's what I did:

La Diva's Layered Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-dried Tomato, Garlic and Spinach

2.5 lbs. ground dark turkey meat (please don't try to save calories and use ground breast meat. It will be dry, dry dry.........cough....yeah, that dry.)
3/4 c plain bread crumbs
3/4 c milk (I use 2%)
2 eggs
1 large celery stalk, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 bay leaves
Seasonings: 2 bay leaves, garlic salt, Italian herbs, oregano, garlic salt, salt and pepper
2 T ketchup
2 T butter

Sun-dried tomato layer:

6 dried tomato halves, reconstituted in 3 T hot water
2 T tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

Spinach layer:

1 box frozen spinach, thawed, drained and blotted with a paper towel
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

Tomato topping:

2 T tomato paste
2 T ketchup
Season to taste: garlic salt, oregano, Italian seasonings

Also, 4 carrots, peeled, halved and then quartered

Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Saute onions and celery in melted butter. Add bay leaves and seasoning to taste. Cook until translucent, about 10 minutes, set aside.

In a large bowl, add meat, breadcrumbs, milk and eggs. Add ketchup and salt and pepper to taste. (yeah, you can taste it, I swear it won't kill you!) Add the cooled veggies to the meat and discard the bay leaves. Mix well with hands and with a wooden spoon, divide the mixture in half. (Mixture should be very sticky. Like my great Polish Auntie always told me: "the moister the meat when it goes in, the moister when it comes out." So don't worry if it's a bit goopy.)

Lightly oil a lasagna pan and take half of the meat and form a square in the bottom of the pan. You should have some room on both ends with the square meatloaf in the middle. Set aside.

Take thawed, drained and blotted spinach and mix with all ingredients, set aside.

Chop softened sun-dried tomatoes and add to paste, adding the water used to re-hydrate the tomatoes. Season and mix well. Set aside.

Make tomato topping by mixing all ingredients together, set aside.

Now, comes the fun part! Let's put this baby together: CAREFULLY spoon over the tomato paste and spread over the top of the meatloaf. Drop spinach cheese mixture in spoonfuls and cover completely to finish second layer.

Now here's the tricky part. Since the meatloaf has a bit of a goopy texture, it's a bit hard to put the final layer on the spinach without mixing it all in. I take a bit of the meat mixture and flatten into my hands like an rectangular patty and then gently add the layer on top of the spinach. I do this until I've completely covered the entire meatloaf.

Finally, carefully spread the tomato sauce over the top of the meatloaf. Season with garlic salt, oregano and Italian seasonings. Add cut carrots to the side, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and salt and stick into the oven for about an hour. CHECK MEATLOAF at about 50 minutes., it might already be done! Once cooked through, let rest for about 10 minutes for easy slicing.

Moist and flavorful, this light and layered loaf is the perfect foil for creamy mash and roasted carrots! Go on and click to see closer!

RESULT: Yes, ok, I admit, it's a bit fiddly for a freakin' meatloaf. And yes, it was a bit of work to make the fillings but tasty home-made comfort don't come easy! (At least not in La Diva's house!) Well, darlings, you just KNOW this turkey loaf turned out DIVALICIOUS! I served it with buttered green beans and garlic mashed Yukon gold potatoes. I really like using the ground turkey as you still get that cozy-comfort, more-ish meatloaf texture with the high protein of turkey and a lighter version of meatloaf than the usual beef/veal/pork mix. Like Auntie says: a moist meat going in is a moist meat comin' out! Words to live by!

Enjoy, darlings, and DO TELL, what is YOUR FAVE COMFORT FOOD? I can't wait to hear all about it! Ciao!cooking class, cocktails, parties, cocktail party, Miami, coral gables, events, bartending class, cocktail class, Laura Lafata, Miami Beach, miami cooking classes, bachelorette parties, bachelorette party