Turkey Meatballs, Italian Style

I'ts nearly the weekend! And I can't think of any better way to celebrate than with pasta.

Turkey mince makes cracking meatballs. I have waxed lyrical about it before with another recipe with Honey Sesame Sriracha Sauce.

Well, I was planning to make that again this weekend but then I made some killer Italian style bread and needed to dip it in a rich tomatoey sauce. So I changed tack and changed the flavour a little.

Dinner and bread

This was a triumph and I'll be doing it again. It's basically an extra saucey bolognese. The addition of the milk is something I've heard about and read about but I was always a little nervous to add it. But then I thought - milk is similar to cheese and I will happily heap Parmesan in there until I have to be physically stopped. So I put it in and it worked! It takes the bitterness out of the tomatoes and just leaves a lovely silky texture for the sauce.

Enjoy!

Serves 4, or 2 with leftovers

Ingredients for the sauce

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• A few leaves of basil, shredded
• 6 slices of pepperoni, chopped small
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp pesto
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 300ml pasatta
• 75ml red wine
• 100ml beef stock
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 75ml milk
• 2 tbsp Parmesan
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Ingredients for the meatballs (makes 16)

• 500g turkey mince
• 1 tsp pesto
• 2 tbsp parmesan
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 egg yolk
• Salt and pepper
• A drizzle of olive oil

Method

Start with the sauce. Heat the oil and fry off the onion, pepper for a few minutes until softened.

Stir through the basil, pepperoni, garlic, pesto, oregano and paprika and mix well. Add the pasatta, wine, stock, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a low simmer and allow to gently bubble for 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, stir through the milk and parmesan and allow to keep simmering.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

For the meatballs, mix together all the ingredients except the olive oil.

Form into balls and place on a greased baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Both should be done at the same time. Plop the meatballs into the sauce, give a quick stir and plate up on top of some freshly cooked pasta.

Drizzle over some more parmesan or a bit more pesto if you fancy, and enjoy!