Not At All Dry Meatballs

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RECIPE:

Banish the thought from your mind that turkey meatballs are dry and reminiscent of sandpaper. These are insanely moist (can I use that word yet?), easy to master, and most importantly they freeze really well, so you can make a ton of them and have ’em for days you feel too lazy to cook.

[SERVES 8]

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion (or two small guys), chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 cup basil leaves, whole (stems are ok)
• ½ cup parsley leaves, whole (stems are ok)
• ½ cup parmesan, grated
• 5 cups bread, torn into 1 inch pieces
• 3 eggs
• 3 pounds ground turkey
• 1 large jar Rao’s Tomato Sauce (or other sauce of choice)

Directions:

1. Pick your largest saute pan and heat over a medium heat with the olive oil
2. Once the oil is nice and hot add in the onion and saute for a few minutes until the onion is translucent and aromatic
3. Add in the garlic, carrots and a big pinch of salt
4. Cook for 5 or so minutes until the vegetables are softened
5. Transfer the onion mixture into a food processor (if you have one… if you don’t you’ll have to chop everything real small… but honestly a reasonably priced food processor is gonna make you VERY happy) and pulse until it forms a course paste
6. Add in the basil and parsley and pulse a few more times
7. Throw in the parmesan and bread and pulse again until the mixture is real thick
8. Transfer the bread/onion/deliciousness into a large bowl and carefully mix in the rest of the salt, eggs and turkey together
9. Only mix until it’s combined, beware of overmixing, it’ll ruin the texture. You’ll know it’s well mixed once the bread/herb mixture is evenly dispersed into the meatballs. As soon as it looks pretty evenly distributed stop mixing!
10. Turn the heat back on under your pan to a medium and preheat your oven to 400 degrees
11. Use your hands to gently form the meatballs into balls that are somewhere sized between a golf ball and a tennis ball (depending on your preference)
12. Once the pan is nice and hot add in only enough meatballs so there is space between each meatball
13. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the side of the meatball touching the pan begins to sear and turn a nice golden color
14. Turn the meatballs a few times so most of the sides have color
15. If you couldn’t fit all the meatballs in the pan rotate the meatballs in and out until they’re all browned
16. Add all the meatballs back into pan and cover with tomato sauce
17. Transfer pan to the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until the internal temp of the meatballs is 155 degrees. If you don’t have a meat thermometer you can take one out and cut it open. The turkey should be firm and uniform in it’s color. Honestly though, since these meatballs ar so moist it can be a little tricky to tell, I really think this is the motivation to go out and get yourself a meat thermometer, you’ll be happy you have it!