You say tomato, I say tomato..
but what do you call turkey “meat”balls?
Turkey orbs?
Poultry spheres?
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I mean.. technically there is no “meat” in these “balls”..
just turkey and some incredible flavor bestowed upon them from a substantial amount of blended up
{ note: blended, not pureed }
herbs, arugula and seasoning!
{ I know.. my photos are still “blue”, but maybe that’s a good thing.. you know, gives a feeling of mood to the photo. Life’s sometimes “blue” too you know! Well, I have been reading about how to use a white card before I take photos at dusk.. so the next batch should be better… }
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Gwyneth.. and her chef-mate, Julia Turshen,
have made a tomato sauce that I love.. enough to triple the recipe so that I could freeze it.
I’ve gently modified it.. so if you’d like her original recipe you should pick up a copy.
It’s so pretty and the photos will always remind me of this summer at the lake.
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Perhaps this tomato sauce nothing out of the ordinary for those of Italian descent,
{ unlike those of us from the land o’ the potato }
But I loved it, my family loved it and that was enough for me.
Better still the turkey, um poultry spheres..
were amazing, downright genius because they’re melded with so many fragrant herbs
they taste like a nibble of garden with every bite.
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However you’d like to spoon it up, this is a great Big Batch Go To Tomato Sauce with Turkey Meatballs recipe to make ahead for the chillier days of fall.
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 20 garlic cloves, minced
- 12 large basil leaves, fresh
- 6 28-oz cans san marzano whole peeled tomatoes with juice
- coarse sea salt
- freshly cracked ground pepper
- Measure the olive oil into a large, deep dutch oven. Set to a low heat then add the garlic and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the half of the basil leaves (6) whole and stir, cooking for another minute or so.
- Add the canned tomatoes along with their juice. Stir in the remaining basil leaves and then bring the sauce to a boil. Then turn the heat down so that the sauce simmers gently for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and use your spoon to break up the whole tomatoes as they cook. Taste and season with sea salt and pepper.
- Serve, ladled over turkey meatballs or set aside to cool. Then pour into jars and refrigerate or freeze for up to 6 months.
- 1 1/2 large onions, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 24 sage leaves
- 24 fresh basil leaves
- leaves pulled from 12 small sprigs thyme
- leaves pulled from 2 large sprigs of tarragon
- 3/4 cup Italian parsley
- 3 large handfuls of arugula
- 3 lbs ground turkey
- 3 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cracked ground black pepper
- Go-To Tomato Sauce
- 6-8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse and blend the onion, garlic, herbs and arugula. If you have a smaller food processor as I did, separate and pulse in batches. Pulse until finely chopped, do not puree.
- Add the chopped herb mixture to the ground turkey. Sprinkle over with salt and pepper. Using your hands, thoroughly combine the ingredients together. Do not overmix.
- Roll or press into golf ball sized balls.
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and, in batches, brown the Turkey Meatballs. This will take 2-3 minutes per side.
- Transfer the Turkey Meatballs to a dish lined with paper towel and blot the excess oil. Continue working in batches until the turkey meatballs are all browned.
- To serve, add the Turkey Meatballs and some of your Go-To Tomato Sauce to a saucepan. Warm over medium heat then simmer until the turkey is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- Serve hot over warm pasta or gluten-free brown rice pasta, polenta or on their own with a veggie side dish.
- Notes
- I browned the turkey meatballs until they were almost completely cooked. Then refrigerated the remaining meatballs and reheated them with some fresh sauce for a second great dinner two nights later.
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We’re being inundated with rain.. so I’m off to show homes to some fav clients all geared up with wellies, raincoat and umbrella in hand! I’ll be round to visit your blogs tomorrow or later this evening if I’m lucky 😀
Turkey meatballs sounds really good to me!
Tasty 😉
Delicious, healthy, and gorgeous! I will have to try your recipe!
Would love a plate of that pasta right now!
Turkey meatballs look fantastic my friend, this is so delicious 😀
Have to give it try!
Cheers
CCU
I love pasta with meatballs. LOVE IT. This sounds lovely – loving the sage in there.
Now, this is just a suggestion, but don’t you think you could force the people you are feeding to hold reflective boards, light diffusing cloth, white cards, etc., so you can get your photos? Especially in weird, blue lighting circumstances? Work THEN food.
They’ll get used to it.
I just knew there was something my husband needed to do!!! Thanks so much movita!! You’re absolutely brilliant!!xx
We don’t see a lot of turkey meat here. A few years ago turkey was only seen in the shops at Christmas time and the only option was to buy the whole bird. Slowly but surely, turkey is making its way into being an everyday meat. I love meatballs and would like to try these – hopefully with turkey! xx
I definitely see different foods being offered on a regular basis in different bloggers’ home towns.. different cuts of meat that I’d never see here. I wonder why, eh?
I love a rich tomato sauce Barbara and this one looks absolutely divine so dark and gorgeous in colour and a perfect accompaniment to those tender flavourful ‘meat’ balls.
We’ve had a cold snap but I still have my fingers crossed that we’ll still get the warmer temperatures. And rain, so much rain; yesterday it rained from 5am to 4pm non stop. It was brutal.
Eva, I’m sure we had the very same thick slooshy rain as you.. like major major rain and then this morning the sun created the most lovely of mists, it almost felt worth it:D
I’m confused..isn’t turkey considered meat?! HAHA I sure consider it meat!! Either way you have me craving pasta with this sauce!
Maybe it is?? I don’t know, it’s confusing.. turkey and chicken are poultry to me, Brit, pork, beef.. lamb are meat? Who knows? *sigh* Gwyneth must know:D
Gorgeous photos and perfect timing with the recipe. Got back Up the Mountain yesterday and opened my fridge and screamed…our neighbours have been picking our tomatoes for us and I have about 150 tomatoes the size of a very large tennis ball waiting to be made into sauce 🙂
Hahaha, finding 150 tomatoes for me might be a scream of terror.. but I know you’ll have a bunch of recipes to share with us soon:)
Doing a custom white balance will definitely help with color temperature. Otherwise if you use a program like Lightroom it’s trivial to adjust in post processing. Anyway, I kinda like turkey orbs! But whatever you want to call these, they look great. Fun stuff – thanks.
Thanks, John.. I don’t have Lightroom, but Adobe Photoshop. I might be doing it wrong, but it never seems to come out quite right if that makes sense?
Ooh these look so wonderful. I love the idea of making up a huge batch and having a good supply in the freezer. Yum!
Six 28 oz cans of tomatoes make an awful lot of sauce! WIth your busy schedule, though, Barb, I’m sure it will come in handy, especially with cooler temps on the way. Besides, I like knowing that I’ve got a couple quarts of tomato sauce in my freezer. No need to stop at a drive-thru or order a food delivery when I know I can make a pasta dinner in minutes. And when the sauce is as good as this one that you’ve made, there’s no way anything that comes in a sack or comes to my door can compare. I hope your clients liked what they saw and put in a bid!
Since your first post about Gwyneth’s cookbook, I’ve been meaning to tell you. I went out and bought the book. I generally avoid cookbooks written by celebrities, but your green goddess dressing persuaded me to check it out. I have made at least 10 recipes from the book (more than I’ve ever made from any one cookbook) and I have loved each and every one. I’ve slightly modified here and there, but not too much. I haven’t tried the tomato sauce recipe yet, but it’s now on my list too. 🙂 In fact tonight we’re making the vegan shepherd’s pie. I just love the freshness of these recipes. Thank you Smidge!
That is awesome, Kristy! Which ones have you tried.. those will be next on my list:) That’s how I got started.. making the ones my friend likes. I think Gwyneth’s had a little help in the kitchen from her chef nonetheless, I love the healthiness of the recipes. btw.. my friend tried the Basic Brownie recipe and it didn’t turn out as well.. Maybe don’t try that one? Or if you have, did it turn out for you??
Turkey orbs look great but the sauce is what I like! So simple and fresh with only tomatoes and herbs.
Nazneen
Love, love big batch idea and your 2 recipes are perfect to make extra for my freezer, it will be full and happy.
You must have a stash of fresh garden tomatoes to use??xx
So pretty, the dish and the setting!
Thanks, Mary:) xx
Barb, you are the queen at making me so hungry lol. I am absolutely in love with your turkey meatballs. They look ssooooooo good.
I love using ground turkey and alway have some in the freezer. Great idea here with the big batches- always nice to pull something out when you want a real meal without the fuss. I’ll make batches like this of spaghetti sauce for my 82 yr old dad to pop in the microwave.
What a simple tomato sauce and what a GREAT idea to make tons of the stuff, jar the leftovers and freeze ? That would be so much better than the horrible jars of sugar and salt laden sauces you find in the supermarket.