Turkey Meatballs & Pasta
I woke up wondering what I might do with the ground turkey I had in my freezer and found this recipe but tweaked it quite a bit. Simple but tasty.
Ingredients:
4 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced and divided
2 lbs ground turkey
1 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
2 eggs beaten
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup parsley
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes(the kind you put on pizza)
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
2 15oz cans of Kirkland organic tomato sauce or equivalent
1 15oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 lbs bag of Rigatoni or Ziti or Spaghetti
Kosher salt(or substitute and freshly ground black
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Directions:
- Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat, add onion, celery, 1 clove of garlic and green/red pepper. Cook veggies until soft, remove to a bowl and set aside. Reserve pan.
- Combine cooled veggies, turkey, eggs, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, coriander, 2 Tbs olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic. Mix well and make into meatballs 1-1.5 in in diameter. Set aside on foil covered cookie sheet or broiler pan.
- Returning to the reserved pan, add the remaining Tbs live oil and heat on medium, Add mushrooms and sauté. When mushrooms are almost done, add remaining clove of garlic and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and oregano. Reduce heat and stir occasionally while the meatballs and pasta cook.
- Cook pasta, set aside and keep warm
- Turn oven on High Broil. Place meatballs under the broiler for ~10 minutes until browned on the outside. Turn meatballs and repeat until the other side is browned as well. Remove from oven.
- Add browned meatballs into the sauce pot stirring gently until all the meat balls are coated and cooked through (165 degrees) ~ 10-20 minutes.
- Serve meatballs and sauce over pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.
Perhaps a nice crusty piece of bread and some Sangiovise wine to round out the meal?