Turkey meatballs with fresh tomato sauce and pasta
How easy is it to make home made turkey meatballs? Faster than going to a supermarket to buy the very unappealing pre-packaged variety. Because I happened to have a large tray of ground turkey, I made a big batch of “balls”, most of which I froze in several containers to retrieve easily for a future quick meal. The few “meatballs” that we had for dinner that night were deliciously moist and especially appetizing with our fresh home made tomato sauce, (see below) and served with home made pasta and basil. Here is all you need:
1) A large saucepan with fresh tomato sauce, simmering to perfection
2) A batch of your favorite fresh or packaged pasta, ready to dunk in boiling water
3) Turkey meatballs, as per my recipe below
- 3 lb ground turkey meat
- 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs (unseasoned, preferably home made)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup grated parmigiano
- a sprinkling of Bell’s herb seasoning
- black pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
Combine all the above ingredients in a large bowl (except the olive oil) and mix together well. When the mixture is evenly blended, begin shaping it into small-medium size balls and set aside carefully onto a large plate, single layer only, to avoid squashing the meatballs. Heat up some oilve oil and brown the meatballs in batches, gently rolling them around in the pan, to brown evenly. When ready, remove from sauté pan and transfer to the sauce pan with the tomato sauce, to finish the cooking process in the sauce.
Meanwhile, drop the pasta in the boling water and drain when al dente. Place a mound of pasta in the center of a plate, top with the sauce and turkey meatballs, fresh parmigiano, basil and pepper and serve steaming hot. Reserve and freeze the unused turkey meatballs in the sauce for another use.
My tomato sauce recipe:
Whether you can your own tomato sauce as we do, or use packaged (like Pomi), you can easily prepare a delicious sauce for your pasta, as follows:
- 4 cups (1 qt) plain, unseasoned tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- salt & pepper
- red pepper flakes
- chopped rosemary and oregano
- basil leaves
Sauté the garlic and onion in the olive oil until translucent and golden. Add the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, rosemary and oregano. Pour in the red wine and let the sauce simmer over low heat while preparing all else, to let the flavors blend well. Add the basil at the end.
