I am a huge fan of Meatballs! In every shape, every form and every type imaginable. I eat a lot of red meat, so I have been trying to cut down and find ways of changing the ways of my favourite things, but still maximise on flavour and not deprive myself of anything.
I remember years ago when the foot and mouth epidemic hit us, my Mum stopped using normal beef mince in any of her recipes. Her spaghetti bolognaise was the best thing ever, so when she hit us with a bowl of turkey mince we could have cried!! Luckily because she is amazing it didn’t matter, because she still managed to make it tasted great! Still to this day, she will never buy beef mince, she will only make her bolognaise, with the now upgraded version of pork mince, and it’s still as divine as ever!
So when I spotted the turkey mince in the supermarket the other day, I decided to go for it – I’d used it to make burgers before, so why not try to transform it into the delicious meatballs I so love! The turkey mince, actually gives it a really nice texture and the flavours are reminiscent of my Nonna’s Polpette – that’s next on my list!
I went a little unorthodox on my sauce, maybe it’s because I couldn’t not have something beef related with my meatballs! So I added a Oxo Beef Stock Cube to the sauce, it made it rich and meaty and scrumptious!
Calories: 248 • Slimming World: FREE on Extra Easy Plan •
• Weight Watchers Pro Points: 4 • WeightWatchers Filling & Healthy Values: Free
Preparation Time: 15 Minutes (plus 20 minutes chilling time)
Cooking Time: 20-30 Minutes
Serves 4
You Will Need:
For the Meatballs
500g Turkey Mince (Breast is best, but you can use Thigh if that is all you can find!)
1 Tsp Granulated Garlic/Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Granulated Onion
Big Bunch of Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
Salt & Pepper
For the Sauce
1 Onion Diced
3 Garlic Cloves Chopped
1/4 Jar of Tomato Passata
400g Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
Oxo Beef Stock Cube
250 ml of water
Big Bunch of Fresh Basil
1/2 Tsp of Dried Oregano (you can use fresh if preferred)
Salt & Pepper
Frylight/Calorie Controlled Oil Spray
Method:
In a big bowl break up the turkey mince, sprinkle in the garlic and onion and combine, add the parsley salt and pepper and mix through
Take individual portions of the mince, about a tablespoon worth will do and set aside on a plate
Once you have used all the mince, I managed to get 16 meatballs out of my mixture, but you can make bigger ones or smaller ones if you like, as long as they are in quantities to be shared equally between 4 people. Cover and place in the fridge for 20 minutes (if you are in a hurry, you can skip this part – but fry on a low heat)
In a large saucepan, sprayed with oil, add the onions and soften, if it starts to get a little dry add some water – add the garlic near the end for 1-2 minutes to soften also
Pour in the tin of tomatoes and Passata and simmer for 3-4 minutes
Crumble to Oxo cube into the tomato mixture and stir, add the 200ml of the water, chuck in the chopped basil and the oregano and turn to a low heat to simmer and thicken by half around 15 minutes (if the sauce hasn’t reduced after this time turn the heat up higher and let it bubble away!)
In a non stick frying pan sprayed with oil, start to cook your meatballs, try not to move them around too much as you don’t want them to fall apart!
Turning every 2-3 minutes, cook for a total of 10 minutes then take of the heat
Add the meatballs to your sauce, add 50ml more of the water and turn up the heat to medium
Cook for 5-10 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs to allow them to cook through and take on the flavour of the sauce and for the sauce to thicken
Serve with Rice, Mash, Spaghetti whatever you fancy, personal fave is a nice bit of crusty bread!
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