Chipotle Meat Loaf

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This is my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging round up.  The blogging event was started by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. This week's host will be Astrid from Paulchen's Food Blog.

With all of the sweetness in our lives recently we felt the need for somehting more savoury. This meat loaf, made with ground turkey, and infused with the smoky goodness of chipotle peppers,  seemed to fit the bill.

One of the key ingredients of this recipe are the chipolte peppers in the adobo sauce. Chipotles chilies[chee-POT-tleh] peppers are smoked jalapeno chili peppers and are also known as chili ahumado.  These chilies are usually a dull tan to coffee color and measure approximately 2 to 4 inches in length and about an inch wide.  As much as one fifth of the Mexican jalapeno crop is processed into chipotles. 

History

Chipotles date back to region that is now northern Mexico City,  prior to the Aztec civilization.  It is conjectured that the Aztecs smoked the chilies because the thick, fleshy,  jalapeno was difficult to dry and prone to rot.  The Aztecs used the same "smoke drying" process for the chilies as they used for drying meats.  This smoking allowed the chilies to be stored for a substantial period of time.

Today Chipotles are used widely throughout Mexico as well as in the United States.  Quite popular in the South Western U.S. and California;  Chipotles have found their way into the cuisine of many celebrity chefs from Hawaii to Manhattan.

The chillies called for in this recipe are canned in a flavourful sauce called adobo.  This sauce or marinade is most often used in Latin American- and Southwest U.S.-style cooking. It is made of finely chopped or pureed chiles, garlic, vinegar, and often onions and tomatoes. Food that has been prepared with adobo is sometimes called adobado.

Meat loaf:
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup regular oats
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large egg whites
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound ground turkey breast
Cooking spray

Topping:
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare meat loaf, remove 1 chipotle chile and 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Chop chile. Combine chile, adobo sauce, onion, and next 14 ingredients (through ground turkey breast) in a large bowl, stirring to combine. Place turkey mixture in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30 minutes.

To prepare topping, combine 1/4 cup tomato sauce, ketchup, and hot sauce in a small bowl; brush mixture evenly over meat loaf. Cover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 239 (24% from fat); FAT 7.1g (sat 1.9g,mono 2.5g,poly 1.9g); PROTEIN 36.3g; CHOLESTEROL 94mg; CALCIUM 55mg; SODIUM 753mg; FIBER 1.3g; IRON 2.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 8.4g

Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2005

Comments

[Kalyn]

How interesting that two people used chipotles in Adobo this week. I like them, but I also use the ground Chipotle chile powder from Penzeys sometimes when I want that great Chipotle flavor. Love the sound of it in meatloaf, great idea!

[Jerry]

Kalyn - I used the powder stuff as well. The flavour is so much better from the cannded stuff (how often do you say that? LOL)