Seafood Meatloaf

There was a group text amongst my extended family about my cousin cooking for my Grandparents' birthdays and inviting people to come along.  My Grandmother had requested meatloaf, while my Grandfather had requested seafood.  My mother interpreted this as a single meal, the prospect of which did not sit well with the entirety of the group chat.  However, I was intrigued, so I began to look into both how to make meatloaf, and how to adapt it for seafood.

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 14.75oz can of Red Salmon

1 6oz can of Crab Meat

1 1lb bag of Extra Large Raw Shrimp (use smaller for convenience)

1 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup Milk

1 Egg

Cocktail Sauce

Instructions:

Begin thawing shrimp

Chop onion and add to bowl

Drain canned foods and add to bowl

Preheat oven to 375

De-tail shrimp and add to bowl

Add bread crumbs, milk, and egg to bowl

Mix

Pour into bread pan(s)

Bake for 1 hour
Remove from oven and let set
Remove from pan and serve with a side of salad and mashed potatoes (or cauliflower)

This... didn't turn out great.  The flavor was mostly alright, if you like fish, but it wasn't really a great blend of fish.  I found myself wishing I'd used a smaller size of shrimp, since the ones I used required me to cut them into thirds before adding them to the mix.  But the biggest problem with this recipe was the fact that it didn't stay as a loaf.  I'm not entirely sure why this was, but I have a couple of theories:

1. There wound up being considerably more meat in this loaf than the recipe that I'd been basing it off of so there might not have been enough egg, breadcrumbs, or both to bind it all together.
2. The shrimp were still fairly wet when I added them to the mix, combined with any excess fluids from the cans, there may have simply been too much liquid in the mixture to stick together properly.
3. I didn't give the meatloaf enough time to properly set, and in my haste to eat it, dumped it out before it was totally finished.  Considering that the second loaf held its form a lot better, this is probably a decent portion of it.
4. This mixture simply isn't conducive to staying as a loaf.
5. Any combination of the above.

While I am curious if correcting any of the things I'd listed would have any impact on the structural integrity of the meatloaf, the fact of the matter is that it wasn't good enough for me to give it another go.  I'm not a huge fan of fish as it is, and this wasn't a great way to cook it.  I can't really recommend this recipe unless you're already a fan of both meatloaf and canned fish and would like to combine the two, or can't eat meat and are jonesing for some meatloaf.

Cream of Mushroom Mushroom Chicken Mk2

In the last post I'd alluded to how there might be more to come, with buying 2 packages of chicken, but only using one, and two separate moments of inspiration.  As you may have guessed, this recipe is pretty much the same as the preceding one, but following the soup's instructions for making soup in order to turn it into actual soup.

Ingredients:

1 package Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts approx 1.5lb

1 lb package Whole Mushrooms

1 26oz can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 26ox can Water

Instructions:

Grease a Large sized fryingpan and laugh to yourself about how young and dumb you were a few days ago

Chop the chicken

Begin cooking chicken over medium heat

Wash and chop mushrooms

Add mushrooms to chicken

Continue cooking
Pour condensed soup and water into a pot
Bring to a boil
Add the chicken and mushrooms to the pot
Simmer
Serve with a side salad

This, much like the preceding recipe, turned out decently.  This combination makes a decent soup, but much like the non-soup version, it was a bit on the bland side.  It was actually a bit more bland than the non-soup, because more of the flavor came from the soup rather than the chicken and mushrooms.  Adding a bit of cheese and hot sauce goes a long way when eating this soup.  Of the two, I think I preferred the non-soup version.

Cream of Mushroom Mushroom Chicken MK1

I was at the store the other day and realized that they had packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts (which I then double checked to ensure they weren't split chicken breasts) BOGO.  So I did.  But that left me with having to figure out what I was going to do with about 3 lbs of chicken.  Inspiration hit me when I saw the family sized cans of condensed soup.  Further inspiration hit me when I remembered my friend who didn't realize that you were supposed to add water to condensed soup and was complaining about how salty it was.

Ingredients:

1 package Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts approx 1.5lb

1 lb package Whole Mushrooms

1 26oz can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 steamable bag Frozen Asparagus (or other vegetable)

Instructions:

Grease a normal sized fryingpan

Chop the chicken

Begin cooking chicken over medium heat

Wash mushrooms roughly so they break into 3 pieces or so

Add mushrooms to chicken

Realize that this pan isn't big enough for the both of them

Haphazardly pour the contents of the pan into a larger pan

Continue cooking

Wash first pan

Continue cooking

Realize the beeping you're hearing means it's time to move clothes from the washer to the dryer

Remove from heat

Leave briefly

Return, turn on heat, and stir chicken and mushrooms together

Pour in the can of soup, but don't add the can of water the instructions for the can seem to think they need

Turn heat to high to reduce the condensed soup/chicken-mushroom juice

Microwave the asparagus

Remove mixture from heat

With a slotted spoon, serve chicken and mushrooms in a wreath of asparagus

This turned out decently.  Chicken and mushrooms mix reasonably well, and cream of mushroom soup is a good option for making a creamier version of the dish.  Most of the flavor of the dish comes from the chicken and mushrooms themselves rather than the soup.  This actually could have used some more spices, as it wound up a bit on the bland side, but it's a good starting point for a recipe, and it's pretty easy to add other ingredients to in order to get a different taste.