The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Christmas Movie Edition-Week 1

 The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Christmas Movie Edition-Week 1

A Christmas Story

"Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf."

Well, we have come to another year of my 12 Weeks of Christmas blog project. This year's theme is Christmas movies and the dishes or foods featured or mentioned in them. To kick off the project, I chose one of my favorite Christmas movies: A Christmas Story. There were several options I could choose from in this movie. The turkey dinner that was destroyed, and the "Chinese turkey" meal that replaced it were definitely good possibilities, but I have plans later on for similar dishes and didn't want to repeat myself. This left one iconic moment to use: the meatloaf meal that truly showcased what a picky eater Randy, the little brother, was. 

I picked out two recipes to try, and both ended up being sister-approved(another picky eater), which means they must be really good! 

First up: Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy(Source unknown)

Meatloaf: 

2Tbsp. canola oil

3lb ground chicken

2 cups chopped onion

2 cups chopped carrot

1 cup unseasoned whole-wheat breadcrumbs mixed with 1 cup milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup ketchup

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. garlic-pepper blend

Gravy:

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1/2 lb. sliced mixed mushrooms

1/4 cup flour

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1/4 tsp. salt

1.) Meatloaf: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a large roasting pan with canola oil

2.) In large bowl, mix chicken, onion, carrot, breadcrumb mixture, Parmesan, ketchup, eggs, salt, poultry seasoning, and garlic pepper. Divide in half, form into 2 loaf shapes. Place each in prepared pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until 160 degrees.

I made homemade breadcrumbs by drying out pieces of bread on a plate and crushing them with my hands and a coffee mug I used as a rolling pin. It still had some big chunks, but it doesn't matter when you add the milk.

Here is the pre-mixed meatloaf ingredients, before adding the ground chicken. The recipe says to chop the carrots, but I grated them on a box grater. Just easier that way.

Here is the mixed meatloaf.

And here is what it looks like on the prepared sheet pan. This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated till you're ready to bake it.

And here is the finished meatloaf, out of the oven. This actually only ended up needing about 45 minutes to cook through.

3.) Gravy: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in broth, wine, poultry seasoning, and salt. Simmer 3 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes or cooked noodles.

Makes 2(6 serving) meals

The sauteed mushrooms and flour make a bit of a roux but it needed more oil or fat to really be a proper roux.

Here is the gravy with all the ingredients, simmering. I bought pre-sliced mushrooms and should have taken the time to slice them thinner, I think they would have cooked down better.

To go with it, I used this recipe from Cookinglight.com: Caramelized Onion Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Caramelized onions are theoretically easy to make, but I always seem to sautee them and then they get overcooked a bit. Low and very slow is what you need for caramelized onions.

Pan-roasting the garlic. Also low and slow is best for this.

It's hard to tell, but on the right side is the mashed garlic, and the onions are on the left side.

And here is the finished product, with the onions and garlic mixed in. Because this is a "healthy" recipe, there is no butter, and it works with the gravy added, but I'm not sure it wouldn't be too dry if you ate them just plain. The flavor is pretty good, though. Caramelized onion and roasted garlic are hard to beat as far as flavors go.

Here's the plated version with the gravy on the potatoes. I was tired and ran out of time for a vegetable, but there's carrots and onions in the meatloaf and mushrooms in the gravy, so I figured those were good enough!

I thought the final product was pretty good. If I had to do it over again, I might have sauteed the onion and carrots for the meatloaf, as they didn't cook fully and ended up being a bit crunchy for my tastes. I would have chopped the mushrooms smaller, as well. They would have cooked down better. The mashed potatoes had great flavor and texture in spite of not having any butter in them!

If you want a comfort dish, you can never go wrong with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. And I can guarantee you won't need to trick anybody into showing you how the piggies eat to eat this dinner!