Mini Mediterranean Turkey Meatloaves

If you’re like me, you saw the title of this recipe and thought “Umm, yeah…that sounds kinda gross.”  First, it’s a meatloaf, which unfortunately, generally gets a bad rap no matter what’s in it.  Now, to be fair, there are some good meatloaves to be had out there (for example, my parents make a delicious meatloaf with barbecue sauce and bacon), but in my experience almost all of the meatloaf iterations end up sounding and looking unappetizing and bland (and don’t get me started on the ketchup smear).  Second, it’s turkey.  Some people love turkey, but I’m just not one of them.  Sure, I like a good Thanksgiving turkey and I won’t pick it off a club sandwich, but otherwise turkey just isn’t one of my go-to meats, especially not for supper.  Third, although we both like feta, Mediterranean is not always one of our favorite flavor profiles and this recipe makes some serious use of hummus.  Again, lots of people love hummus, but I am not one of them (it’s bean paste people, bean paste).  So, these premises considered (like how I snuck some legalese into my blog post?), I made this Sweet as Pick pick first this month mostly so I could get it out of the way and move on to the Nutter Butters knock-off recipe (stay tuned to find out how that one turns out).  Here’s how it came together:

First, I mixed together ground turkey, eggs, some hummus, panko bread crumbs, feta cheese, parsley, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.    The recipe also called for chopped olives, but Phillip doesn’t do olives, so we skipped them this time.  I formed the mixture into four mini loaves and put them on a greased baking pan before spreading another tablespoon of hummus on top of each loaf.

While the meatloaves baked, I made a tomato and cucumber salsa/relish to use as a topping.  I stirred together diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, basil, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Super easy!

After the meatloaves came out of the oven, we topped them with the salsa/relish and some extra feta before enjoying them alongside some roasted sweet potatoes. 

Okay, okay, these actually turned out pretty well (you know, once you scraped the hummus off the top).  Phillip really liked them and even I had to admit that they made a solid weeknight meal.  The turkey actually wasn’t too bad and of course, was a healthier meat choice.  It definitely made me less skeptical of trying other recipes that call for ground turkey.  I like olives so I wish we’d been able to try it with them. If I ever make it again I’ll probably sneak some into at least a couple of the mini loaves.  If you decide to try this one for yourself, don’t skip the relish topping – it adds the extra flavor and texture that the dish really needs.  Thanks, Catherine, for broadening our dinner plate horizons with this pick!