Tofu-Turkey Meatloaf

No, I don't have a picture of it. Why? Because we dug into it before I could snap a picture, and we devoured it like we always do. I found a recipe on the internet a couple years ago that featured tofu in meatloaf, and jotted down my own adaptation of it in my notebook, so I'm not sure where the original idea came from. I do remember that it was bland when I first made it, and it included ground beef, so mine is lighter and tastier.

99.99999% of you see "tofu-turkey meatloaf" and think, "ewww." I agree, it's three completely unappetizing words, especially strung together like that. But trust me - it's the bomb diggity. It's healthy, it's filling, it's comforting, and you would never in a million years guess that it has tofu in it. And it's gluten-free, too, if that's your thing.

When you buy the tofu for this, stick it in the freezer. Then a few hours later, once it's frozen solid, move it to the fridge for a day or two to thaw out. Freezing like this changes the texture of the tofu and makes it meaty and chewy, kind of like ground chicken.

TOFU-TURKEY MEATLOAF

Sauce:
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp honey

Meatloaf:
1 (14 oz) pkg firm or extra-firm tofu, frozen and thawed
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 onion, finely chopped*
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped*
1 or 2 stalks celery, finely chopped*
1 carrot, finely chopped*
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 good squirt of sriracha (very optional - it's spicy!)

* I throw the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in the food processor together and give them all a communal whiz-up to save time.

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).

First off, use a great trick I learned from Anne over at FabFrugalFood - she's the official tofu expert, having written the fantastic cookbook 101 Things To Do With Tofu. Drain the water out of your tofu, put it in a clean dishtowel, and give it a good hard squeeze over the sink. Wring all the liquid out of it that you can, then open up the towel; you now have drained, reasonably dry, well-crumbled tofu. Dump that into a large bowl.

Add the rest of the meatloaf ingredients to the tofu and mix it all up. Transfer to a loaf pan and pat it out smooth. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes.

While it bakes, mix up all the sauce ingredients in a bowl until well-blended. When the timer goes off, take out the meatloaf and brush half the sauce on top. Put it back in the oven, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. Let it stand a minute or two and then serve with the rest of the sauce on the side.