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*All recipes on this blog (unless otherwise noted) are Martha Stewart's from the Everyday Food Cookbooks here and here, they are not my own. If other than this I will post links to the recipes or indicate that they are originals*

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Turkey Chili Meatballs

I strayed away from the usual few cookbooks this week and boy was it successful.
These chili meatballs and mashed potatoes are from Rachel Ray's "Just In Time".
And while we were very impressed with the recipe itself, I would say I'm much less enthusiastic about the cookbook.  Sadly it has little to do with the actual content and mostly related to the fact that there are only 8 pictures in the entire cookbook.  
I don't think I'm alone in today's cooking world when I say that I definitely 'eat with my eyes', hence the popularity of websites like foodgawker, foodbuzz and yumgoggle, just to name a few. It blows my mind when cookbooks have no photos!  Maybe it's just me, but it really makes me not want to cook out of them.  I am trying though, I have to, because there are really A LOT of cookbooks that have very little photos...much to my dismay.  
Mark my words, if I ever publish a cookbook (fat chance) it will have photos for EVERY recipe.  
Ok anyway, enough ranting for one day.
Besides the lack of photo for this recipe, it was pretty fantastic, check out the Logan rating.  It pretty much speaks for itself!
The mashed potatoes are so incredibly simple, yet seriously so good, I was impressed.  Usually I think I over-complicate mashed potatoes and load them with way too many ingredients. This reminded me that sometimes simpler, is better. 
And the meatballs...oh those meatballs...don't even get me started on the meatballs.
They were divine!  So impressed with how simple and amazingly flavorful these were.
You have to try them, today, tomorrow, sometimes soon!
And then let me know what you think!?! 
Also I do love Rachel Ray for reminding me that cooking is not all about precise measurement. Her recipes teach me to trust my judgement and use my taste buds more often to determine if I've got the right amount of a certain ingredient.  Thanks Rachel! 
ENJOY!

Turkey Chili Meatballs
1 1/4 lb ground turkey breast
1 onion, peeled
4 large garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
1 T chili powder, a palmful 
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
1/4 cup cilantro or parsley leaves, a handful, coarsely chopped
2 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1/4 cup molasses (eyeball it)
1/2 cup cider vinegar (eyeball it)
1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar (eyeball it)
1 (28oz) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes


Sour Cream Smashed Potatoes
2 lbs new potatoes or baby yukon golds
3 T butter
S&P
1/2-3/4 cup sour cream (eyeball it)
3-4 T snipped or chopped chives

Preheat the oven to 400. 
Cut larger potatoes in half, leave smaller baby potatoes whole and place them all in a saucepot. Add water to cover by about 1 inch, cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat.  Remove the lid and simmer the potatoes until tender, 12-15 minutes.  Drain and return the potatoes to their pot, then add 
2 T of the butter, some S&P, the sour cream and the chives.  Smash with a fork or potato masher until your preferred consistency is achieved. 

While the potatoes are coming up to a boil, place the turkey in a mixing bowl.  Grate half of the onion into the meat along with half of the garlic, the chili powder, shredded cheese, cilantro or parsley, and S&P.  Form the mixture into 1 1/2 in round meatballs and arrange on a nonstick baking sheet.  Drizzle the meatballs with a little EVOO(I skipped this) and roast in the oven for 12 minutes, or until they are golden and the juices run clear.

Once you have the meatballs in the oven, start the BBQ sauce.  Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 T of EVOO.  Chop the remaining half onion, and add it to the center of the skillet along with the remaining garlic and S&P.  Cook, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes.  Add molasses, cider vinegar, and brown sugar; stir to combine; then stir in the fire roasted tomatoes.  Bring up to a bubble and simmer the sauce over low heat until you are ready to eat.  ( I added about 1T cornstarch mixed in 1 T water to thicken the sauce a bit). 
Remove the meatballs from the oven and add to the skillet with the BBQ sauce.  Toss to coat with sauce.  Plate up the meatballs with a little more sauce on top and serve with the smashed potatoes.  


Serves 4.

Logan Rating: *****

2 comments:

  1. Can,t wait to try these
    Thanks for sharing
    wintkat

    ReplyDelete

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