Alton Brown-Inspired Roasted Tomato Sauce with Turkey Meatballs
I finally started to use my Alton Brown-inspired Roasted Tomato Sauce which I had made during peak tomato season and froze in small jars. Finally… fresh tomato sauce.
I thawed the puree and tried follow Alton Brown’s instructions, so I chopped an onion and some garlic and sauteed them a bit in a little olive oil, then added my previously frozen roasted tomato sauce and a cup or so of white wine and let this cook for approximately 30 minutes before adding my turkey meatballs.
Turkey Meatballs in Grilled Roma Tomato Sauce
I am so glad I made a huge batch of my Grilled Roma Tomato Sauce and froze a number of jars because it went really well with my turkey meatballs.
For the meatballs- start with 1 pound of ground turkey thigh in a large bowl. To that, add:
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- a few tablespoons of chopped fresh basil
- pinch of sea salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Mix this all well with your hands and form golfball-sized meatballs on a separate plate.
Heat 4-5 TB olive oil on medium-high heat in a heavy skillet. When hot, add the meatballs and let them cook a few minutes before rotating them a bit. I like to brown mine on all sides and I’m not too picky about little pieces falling off of some meatballs as I flip them. After 10 minutes or so, add 1/2 cup red wine, let it start to sizzle like crazy, cover, and reduce the heat to medium. Let this cook a few more minutes and then add it all, and I mean ALL… pan juices, burnt-to-the-bottom turkey bits, etc. – to a pot of hot Grilled Roma Tomato Sauce.
Finish cooking the meatballs all the way through in the sauce. Serve with warm crusty bread, parmesan cheese, and whatever else you like.
Enjoy.
Turkey Burger
- At July 17, 2010
- By megan
- In Burgers, Hazel Dell, Mushrooms, Sandwich, turkey
0
Turkey burgers are a great way for the carnivore in this house and the mostly vegetarian (me) to compromise. I do enjoy turkey, especially over the last year or so. It has good flavor, and something about it does not trigger the gag reflex so many vegetarians talk about when they smell raw meats. So, I’ve come to like turkey and I’m trying to find good ways to prepare it.
This was my first try at a turkey burger and it turned out great.
I bought one pound of ground turkey thigh at Whole Foods. I put it in a big bowl and added:
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 small chopped onion
- some scallions, sliced
- 1 TB Worcestershire
- 1 TB olive oil
- some Urfa pepper flakes from Savory Spice Shop (use red pepper flakes if you don’t have the kind I used)
- a splash of Harry’s Habanero, from the Boulder Hot Sauce Company
- 3 TB of crumbled feta
Mix this all by hand, form some patties, and grill for 6-8 minutes or so on each side (my burger was approximately 1 inch thick). Make sure they are cooked to a safe temperature of 165 in the middle before taking your first bite. Remember to always be careful with poultry.
I put mine on a small ciabatta bun I picked up at Whole Foods, and topped it with some local lettuce from Munson Farms, and a simple mushroom sauté of a medley of little mushrooms I picked up from Hazel Dell that I sauteed in butter, garlic, and sea salt. Those little mushrooms really didn’t need any special treatment since they were so flavorful on their own… but I do apologize for not recalling which shrooms made it into the mix.
In the end, it turned out to be a tasty burger.
Pizza Four Ways
- At April 12, 2010
- By megan
- In Apples, blue cheese, caramelized onion, Peppers, pizza, pizza dough, roasted garlic, Sauce, shrimp, turkey
- 1
Why make one large pizza when you can make four small pizzas? Mix it up a little…
The four I made, from left to right, are:
- Turkey Meat Sauce and Green Pepper
- Shrimp with Roasted Garlic Oil and Green Pepper
- Caramelized Onion, Apple, and Blue Cheese
- Roasted Garlic
For all of these, I followed my Pizza Dough recipe, in which I altered the flour content in following way: 2 cups unbleached white flour, 1.5 cups whole wheat flour. Also, I rolled each crust super thin and baked them at 425 on a pizza stone for approximately 5 minutes each. They will take more time if they are not incredibly thin, so be mindful of that.
I had some leftover Turkey Meat Sauce (which was actually chopped meatballs in sauce from my Turkey Meatballs in Homemade Sauce recipe) , so I spread that on some dough with sliced green pepper.
I roasted garlic for my Roasted garlic flatbread-style pizza, and used the oil as a base for the shrimp pizza. I spread some oil, put on some chunks of shrimp, green pepper, salt, and pepper.
My favorite pizza of the four was the caramelized onion, apple, blue cheese combination. This needs to be planned out a bit because it can take 30 minutes or so to slowly caramelize onions. I spread them out on the crust, covered the pizza in apple slices, and then some Oregon blue cheese crumbles. Delicious. If you aren’t familiar with caramelizing onions, the first part of my Caramelized Onion Butter recipe can explain that.
My roasted garlic flatbread is really simple. Just add some roasted garlic and its oil to the rolled out dough. Salt and pepper, bake, and dive right in. If you want to review roasting garlic, follow my recipe for Roasted Garlic Spread, but skip the part where you make it a spread. Or, make a roasted garlic spread… whichever way you prefer.
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