Nine times out of ten I would be more than likely to skip over a recipe that’s labeled “kid friendly”, especially if that recipe isn’t even in the magazine! But I was in search of a quick, mostly make ahead recipe that would include ground turkey and spinach.
The spinach in question was the last of the pick from seed Joe planted last October. It wintered over quite nicely in the greenhouse, considering the extremely cold and snowy winter we had. These were not the smaller leaves that we would use in salads but larger ones that would be fine incorporated into a stir fry or cooked down for a dish. I wasn’t in the mood for soup or a stir fry. Larb, the Thai dish that uses ground meat wrapped in lettuce leaves (I could substitute spinach..) was a possibility, but I still wasn’t satisfied yet.
Finally I found it, sort of, in the March edition of Bon Appetit, a column called “The Providers” written by bloggers and husband and wife, Jenny Rosenstrach and Andy Ward. It was an article about strategies for feeding a busy family with preplanned homemade meals. No recipe here but a small postscript to find a recipe for turkey and spinach meatballs on Bon Appetit.com.
Okay, I’m “biting” now, meatballs would be a change of pace for us and we haven’t had a meal with pasta in quite a while. Not that you would have to have them with pasta. Rice would work,so would polenta, on a roll or just by themselves. I pulled a few bags of my oven roasted tomatoes out of the freezer for the marinara sauce and I was ready to go.
The spinach in this recipe was the frozen variety, I have no problems with that, I always have some on hand. It’s just that I had fresh that wasn’t going to be fresh for long and wanted to use it up. The next question for me was, how many cups of fresh spinach does it take to make the equivalent of a ten ounce package? Since my frozen chopped spinach of choice these days is Birdseye, I checked the package, nutrition information yes, but nothing regarding the fresh equivalent. I checked the web, the best I could find was that 1.5 lbs of fresh spinach would cook down to the 10 ounces needed. I just trimmed the large stems and cooked all the spinach I had, a crisper bin full. It looked fairly close to 10 ounces, final weight after squeezing out excess liquid, 9.2 ounces, not too bad I would say.
The marinara sauce is very basic, quite similar to what I already make. I substituted 2 quart bags of our roasted tomatoes, drained of excess liquid. That excess liquid is certainly not the prettiest, but a very flavorful tomato juice, a special treat for the chef. Since I cooked whole leaf spinach, I roughly chopped it after it was cooked down and drained it well before adding it to the meat mixture.
After a somewhat messy beginning, I coated my hands with non stick spray before forming the meatballs so the mixture wouldn’t stick to my fingers. Another selling point of this recipe is that the meatballs are broiled in the oven, eliminating the splatter that comes along with stovetop cooking. This is a recipe that can be doubled, work once, eat twice. The writers of the article recommend freezing in single serving batches so they can be thawed as needed. It’s protein and vegetable all in one juicy meatball served with a simple but flavorful tomato sauce, a great weeknight meal.
Turkey Spinach Meatballs
from the Bon Appetit website
Makes 20 meatballs, serves 4
Ingredients for Marinara Sauce
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1t dried oregano
- 1/4t crushed red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2T tomato paste
- 1-28oz can whole peeled tomatoes (I used my own roasted tomatoes)
Directions for Marinara Sauce
- Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, stirring often, until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste and 1 tablespoon water and cook, until tomato paste coats onion and begins to darken, about 3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes to saucepan, crushing with a fork or wooden spoon when you add them. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and gently simmer until slightly thickened, 20-25 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Be sure to stir frequently so the tomatoes don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Ingredients for the Meatballs
- Non stick vegetable oil spray
- 1 large egg, beaten to blend
- 1/4 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 lb. ground turkey
- 1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed to remove excess moisture (I used fresh spinach that I cooked down and chopped)
- 1/2c finely shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/2c plain dried breadcrumbs
- 2T chopped fresh flat leafed parsley
- 1t fennel seeds
- 1t finely grated lemon peel
- 1t kosher salt
- 2T olive oil,
Directions for the Meatballs
- Preheat broiler. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray
- Using your hands or a fork, gently mix egg, onion, garlic, turkey, spinach, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, fennel seeds, lemon zest and salt in a large bowl until just combined.
- Scoop out turkey mixture by the 1/4 cupful and form into balls, you should have about 20. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing 2″ apart; brush with oil.
- Broil meatball, turning often, until browned all over and cooked through, 15-18 minutes. Add to marinara sauce.
- To do ahead: Meatballs with marinara sauce can be made 2 weeks ahead. Let cool completely and freeze individual portions in resealable plastic bags. To cook, reheat gently until meatballs are warmed through and sauce is bubbling, 15-20 minutes.
