This is just the kind of weeknight dinner I often crave: hearty but not heavy, familiar but a little different.
I came up with this recipe at the end of last year. My pal Emmet and I did a special holiday menu for the clients of our Full Fridge Club, a prepared-meal service with a charitable bent, and I thought it would be fun to offer turkey meatloaf rather than a more traditional roast turkey or ham or something like that.
When we cook food for our clients, we have the same goals as any home cooks: We want food that tastes really good and doesn’t take forever to prepare; we try to make things that use good-quality and, ideally, local ingredients, but we don’t want everything to cost a lot; and we want things to reheat well because we know people won’t necessarily eat a dish — or all of it — the moment they get it. This meatloaf checks all those boxes.
The sweet potato keeps the turkey from drying out when you reheat it (as does using dark meat or any packaged ground turkey that has at least 10 percent fat).
Speaking of reheating, you can put the whole meatloaf in a 300-degree oven or — and I highly recommend this method — reheat slices in a buttered or oiled skillet so they get browned on the cut sides. And speaking of making it ahead, it lasts for several days in the fridge. For even more of a head start, you can make the sauteed onion mixture a couple days before assembling and baking the meatloaf.
It’s all very easygoing, which makes it worth exclaiming about!
