Thursday, November 4, 2010

Turkey Meatballs

What's the point of having tomato sauce if you don't know how to make meatballs? Seriously. Pasta's nice, but you need a little protein to go with your carbs, don't you?

It's surprisingly easy to make a good meatball. You really only need three ingredients, so there's no reason not to make them. Well, besides the icky feeling of raw meat squishing between your fingers, but to that, I say, "grow up."

Alright? Alright. Let's make some meatballs.

Ingredients:
1 lb of Ground Turkey
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Bread Crumbs (Italian Seasoning flavored, preferably)
Olive Oil

Steps/Analysis:

First thing's first: you'll probably want to get a pot of tomato sauce on the stove. If it's my homemade recipe from last week, awesome. If it's store-bought, well, I'll just turn my head while your crack open the jar. Put the sauce on Low heat and let it start to simmer.

Next, you're going to need a really big bowl. Really big. Trust me.
When you've found your massive bowl, dump in the ground turkey. Follow that up with the eggs and bread crumbs.

Now, it's time to get your hands dirty. Get in touch with your inner, mud-pie-making child and mix everything up really well. The more consistent the mixture, the better.

At this point, you should get a pan on the stove and let it warm up over Medium heat. You'll also want a relatively large plate on which to deposit your meatballs.

Gather up a small handful of meat and roll between your palms into a nice, little globe and set it aside on the plate. Repeat this process until you're out of meat. Depending on the size of your balls, you'll probably get 14-18 by the time you're done.

Add a little olive oil to the pan and carefully shift your meatballs from plate to pan. Don't overcrowd the pan. You may need to do this in more than one batch.
As the meatballs start to brown, roll them over with a spoon. Keep doing this until the entire surface is just a little crispy and the meatballs are cooked through the center, or at least most of the way there.

Move the meatballs into the simmering sauce and let the pot sit on the stove for about an hour or so. That'll give all the flavors a chance to meld and mellow and let the meatballs finish cooking, on the off chance that they're a little underdone.

Serving/Notes:
I was really pleased with this first attempt at meatballs. They were firm and flavorful and starting them off in the pan gives them a little crunch that they wouldn't have otherwise.

If you pair this recipe up with my updated tomato sauce, you'll have leftovers for weeks too, which is nice. Either that, or you can have a big pasta-and-meatball party!

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