More fun with ground turkey tonight. Orginally, I was going to make 1 batch of turkey meatballs and 1 batch with ground beef but Chris thought the ground beef was getting too old.
So…..
19 oz of ground turkey (the pre-package size from the store)
1/2 bell pepper, red or orange, diced extra small
1/2 onion, diced very small
1 tablespoon roasted garlic mash
1 egg
garlic powder
oregano, dried
smoked paprika
salt & pepper
fresh basil, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a shallow baking pan with non-stick spray
No real measurements here on the spices. I just mixed it all in till it smelled good. It was about 6-8 leaves of basil. Mix all together and form in to balls about 1 inch big. Place the meatballs on the baking pan. I was able to get 18 meatballs from the mix.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Now, at this point, I realized it would have been better to place the meatballs on a metal rack in the pan so the fat would drain away. But I don’t have one of those- need to pick one up this week! Instead, I took the pan out after 20 minutes and removed the meatballs to a platter, leaving most of the fat behind.
And that’s meatballs!
While they cooked, I sauteed some onion slices and chopped peppers in a bit of olive oil. Add the pasta sauce of your choice and heat through. Add the meatballs to the sauce and toss to coat. Serve over angel hair or other pasta of your choice.
Tonight, we used a creamy cheese tomato sauce. This recipe would work with any sauce though.
Things I might do different next time:
- Saute the diced onion and peppers for the meatballs first. I think they’d mix with the meat better.
- Use the rack to allow the fat to drain.
- Use a more Marinara style sauce and finish cooking the meatballs in the sauce.
Chris liked this dish and I made plenty for leftovers. I liked this dish because you can get 3 servings of vegetables in one dish and yet still eat “comfort food” like spaghetti and meatballs.
Not fresh or homemade but we also had some garlic bread, that frozen loaf stuff. It was ‘eh.’ But it worked out well as Chris preferred the cheesier side and I liked the more garlic butter side so we didn’t have to argue over it!
Good Food Hunting 