Turkey Meatballs

Devon made these meatballs yesterday afternoon :)
I had experimented with making Pizookie and the girls were over to sample and help me with refining the recipe (and eat homemade Froyo ). One thing lead to another and soon Devon was up to her knuckles with ground turkey and churning out meatball like a pro!

The Turkey Meatballs turned out great! It is not the recipe that the Bonita Soccer Team enjoyed but still good (alas I have to find that recipe....)

• 1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 pound ground turkey-preferably 20% fat

Heat oven to 500F.

Stir together breadcrumbs, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in a large size bowl. Crack 2 eggs into another bowl. Add the whole milk to the eggs and whisk. Add the turkey meat and the egg mixture to the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Gently combine until just mixed. Do not overwork or meatballs will be hard. Shape into golf ball sized meatballs or desired sized. Just make sure that they are all the same size to ensure even cooking. Placed on lightly greased baking sheet. Cook in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Cooking the meatballs in the oven at a high temperature browns them and get them ready for the sauce. It allows you to brown all the meatballs at one time versus frying them in batches on the stove. Also saves washing another pan!

While, meatballs are browning, make your own tomato pasta sauce or doctor up ready made sauce. To add your own touch to store bought pasta sauce, saute chopped garlic and shallots in some olive oil before adding the sauce to the pan. Season sauce with freshly chopped parsley and bay leaves. Let simmer. Add meatballs and simmer for 1/2 -45 minutes on low. Finish with fresh basil and/ or more chopped parsley.