Turkey Meatballs and Garlic Bread

I've always considered (somewhat stupidly I admit) replacing beef with turkey a kind of hippiesh/faux vegetarian thing to do and refused to try it. However, as I find myself aging rapidly and eating dinner later at night, compromises have been made to find healthier and lighter meals. This represents my second attempt at the meatballs and we've decided the recipe is a keeper. Some of the ingredients in the original reciple didn't jive with my palate but I've included them in parantheses in case someone else has better luck.

Turkey Meatballs:

2 tablespoons olive oil plus 2 additional tablespoons
1 large yellow onion, very finely diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
(2 teaspoons fennel seeds)
coarse sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, pulsed in a food processor with their juice or crushed by hand
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
(zest of 1/2 lemon )
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
(1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary )
1 pound ground turkey (preferably dark meat)
1 egg
1 pound spaghetti, cooked just before serving

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about eight minutes. When it’s soft, add the garlic (and fennel seeds) and season generously with salt and pepper and saute for another minute or two. Remove and reserve half of this onion mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes and their juice to the remaining mixture in the pot, turn the heat to low and simmer while you make the meatballs.

To make the meatballs, combine the breadcrumbs, (lemon zest,) parsley, thyme (and rosemary) with the reserved onion mixture. Add the turkey and egg and mush it all with your hands just until everything is well-combined, don't over mix. Form the mixture into 1-1/2" balls with your hands ). Heat the last two tablespoons of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs (should take about five minutes). Put the browned meatballs into the simmering tomato sauce and let them cook, shaking the pot occasionally to roll the meatballs around, for at least 20 minutes and up to an hour and a half. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.


Mike taste testing and being a really good sport... especially given that we didn't start eating until 10 p.m.

Garlic Bread:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) lightly salted butter, room temperature
5 cloves garlic, pushed through a press
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 baguette
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Stir together the butter, garlic, parsley and pepper until well combined. Cut the baguette in half horizontally and spread each cut side with the garlic butter. Sandwich the bread back together, wrap in a sheet of tin foil and put in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler, unwrap the bread, evenly sprinkle the parmesan over both sides of the bread and broil until the cheese is melted and browned.

(taken from http://goop.com/newsletter/19)