My brother's wife, Kim, is an excellent cook. Maybe it's that she is the daughter of former caterers; or that she is half-Mexican and half Italian and whether her "secret ingredient" is cumin or parsley, the result is usually magical. Her trademark: Give her just a few ingredients and she can make a crowd-pleasing, healthy, meal in nanoseconds.
I had a four-pack of ground turkey to use from Costco. I usually freeze 2 and use two at one time. Last month I made turkey meatloaf and wasn't ready for a repeat quite yet. I had told a friend who just had twins that I'd bring her dinner. And, the turkey meatballs Kim had made over Thanksgiving were lingering in my memory. Seemed like a delicious and easy to double so both families could get a healthy, easy-to-prepare meal with ample leftovers solution.
I'm not sure where she got the original recipe, but hopefully through translation and us both taking liberty of a dash of this and and dollop of that, I'm not plagiarizing anything.
Turkey Meatballs
- 1 egg
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- Salt & Pepper
- Italian Seasoning (or a mixture of minced fresh parsley, oregano, basil if you have it)
- 1 lb of ground turkey
- Frozen spinach, thawed and the water pressed out (a 10 oz box or whatever bags you use)
- 1/2 cup of bread crumbs or panko (approximately)
- 1 cup of Parmesan (approximately)
Preheat oven to 375.
Lightly beat egg in a large bowl. Add the minced garlic, S &P, and Italian seasoning/herbs.
Add ground turkey, spinach, bread crumbs and Parmesan. Mix well with your hands so it's all blended.
Scoop meatballs onto a large jelly roll pan (I used a cookie scoop so they were all the same size); okay if they are close together as they will keep their shape.
Bake for 15-20 minutes (until cooked through) and remove from pan shortly after they come out of the oven so that they don't stick.
I added mine to a marinara sauce immediately. Use whatever marinara you want/usually make. I made one in the slow cooker this morning as I had a lot to do today and needed to make the sauce in advance with the ability to leave the house without a stove on. Mine was approximately: 1-2 cans of Hunts regular spaghetti sauce (it's .99 cents a can, low sugar for a canned marinara, and a great base for many of my lasagnas, marinara, etc.); 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (depending on how chunky you like your sauce); 2 cloves of minced garlic; Italian season; S&P. I cooked on low for 4 hours so the flavors could meld.
Notes:
1) This is very easy to double, which I did today and used 2 lbs of turkey, etc.
2) If you don't have spinach or spinach isn't your thing in meat, substitute a finely chopped onion in its place. Either way, the spinach or onion are key in keeping the meatballs moist.
The Verdict: A new classic. Fantastically easy, delicious, and I *love* that the kids are getting spinach without realizing it. Our usual meatball recipe is a classic mixture of pork/meat/veal and this was much healthier and just as delicious. Husband gave two thumbs up as well!
