Turkey meatballs

I always thought that once I had successfully accomplished a dish that I would be able to recreate it just as successfully every time thereafter. However, if you forget to add salt to a dish, you will fail.



I set about to make turkey meatballs which I had made a few times before to what I thought was great success. I based my recipe on the Barefoot Contessa's Turkey Meatloaf. In general, meatballs and meatloaf involve ground meat of your choice, breadcrumbs, onions, parsley, tomato paste, egg and (what I think is the key ingredient) parmigiano cheese. The Contessa's recipe includes Worcestershire sauce and chicken stock (I've seen other methods add milk).


I sauted onions (about half an onion, diced finely) then added a splash of Worcestershire and some tomato paste, and a little water to de-glaze the pan (I did not have any of my chicken stock defrosted, egads!). After cooling the mixture, I added it to a bowl with about a quarter cup of grated parmigiano, a handful of chopped parsley, about 1/3 cup of panko breadcrumbs (panko is just a preference not a requirement), a little less than half a pound of ground dark-meat turkey (light is okay too, but the dark was half the price of the light, and in these economic times, I'm watching every penny), and one egg. The mixture seemed a little mushy so I added a little more of the panko.


I managed to make exactly... 29. I tried to make an even 30, I really did.


Oh, before I was elbow-deep in ground meat, I should have gotten my tomato sauce ready, which is where I like to finish the meatballs. This is my favorite brand of crushed tomatoes. Something about the consistency and the flavor, it is very smooth and also a little sweeter than others (which I love). Also like a dollar more expensive, so I guess I just cancelled out the savings from the dark turkey meat.


I browned the meatballs in a skillet to try to get a nice dark crust. I don't worry too much about cooking it all the way through because it will finish in the sauce (to which I had also added salt, pepper, sugar and dried basil--a note about dried basil to come here).


Of course topped with freshly grated parmigiano cheese.

Did you notice I did not add any salt to the meatball mixture? Oh yes, this came back to haunt me. While the finished product was good, it was not outstanding. Lesson learned? Don't forget the friggin salt!