Meatball Recipe (Nigella Lawson's recipe)

Baby, it's cold outside!

Better snuggle up!

Saturdays like this were meant for staying in and snuggling up with someone you love and making some comfort food that will warm your insides.  As promised I'm sharing the meatball recipe with you.  It is one of Nigella Lawson's recipes.  I saw her on the Today show about a week ago and was drooling over the food she made on the show.  I immediately found her latest cookbook on Amazon.com and ordered that puppy!   I got it this week and have been searching through it but kept thinking about the recipe she had on t.v.  

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce!  

I normally don't follow recipes exactly as they are but I made an exception this time and tried to stay true to her recipe.  I did pretty good (for me).

Is it wrong to bribe your friends?  Because this is actually the second batch of meatballs that I've made.  I made one last night and then another today for a friend in the hopes that she will bake me something delicious and sinful as a reward.  I know you shouldn't think that way.  Doing something for others expecting something in return.... but it's an agreement I think she'll go for.  Wouldn't you?

Here's what you'll need

1 onion

1 celery stalk (you see 2 because mine wasn't pretty so I took the middle out of two stalks)

Garlic flavored oil

Thyme

28 oz. of canned diced tomatoes

water

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. of kosher or sea salt

1 pound of ground turkey

1 egg

3 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs

3 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp. of worcestershire sauce (I spelled that without spell check catching it! Yay!! small victories!)

So, Let's do this!

Put your onion and celery in the food processor 

And as Nigella says you "blitz it to a mush"

I say with a British accent

Take 2 Tablespoons of this and reserve it for later use

Then take your garlic flavored oil and add it to the pan.  Nigella calls for 2 Tablespoons but I just take the bottle for a couple of spins around my pan like Rachael Ray taught me.  Then add your onion and celery mixture.  It seems watery but don't worry!  Then add  1 tsp. of dried thyme. 

cook this on low heat for...

Nigella says 10 minutes.  I got bored after 5 minutes and moved on.

Now on this next part I strayed from the recipe.  I did it for my friend who has "texture issues" haha!!

I pureed her diced tomatoes because she does not like chunks.

I'm such a sweetie.

The sauce I made last night had chunks.

Add the tomatoes to the onion and celery mixture and add 28 oz of water and you have your sauce!

Bring this to a simmer where it bubbles and then turn the heat down and let it simmer while you work on your meatballs.  

In a mixing bowl add:

1 lb. of ground turkey

1 egg

3 Tablespoons of bread crumbs

3 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

2 Tablespoons of the onion/celery mixture you reserved from earlier

1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce

and 

1/2 tsp. of dried thyme

Nigella says to mix this all together gently with your hands but do not over mix as that will make the meatballs dense-textured and heavy.  

That means nothing to me.  I mixed it the only way I know how.  I probably have dense meatballs.  

oh well....

Then you  line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and form little meatballs.

I found that if you spray your hands with cooking spray it helps- a LOT!  I had to stop about halfway through and rinse my hands off and re-spray them.  

The recipe says you can make about 50 little meatballs but that seems to make teeny weeny little meatballs so I made mine slightly bigger and made about 30.

Actually that's 31

It will drive all of my o.c.d. friends crazy

Then gently place your meatballs into the sauce and let them simmer.  Don't move them around too much as it will break up your little meatballs.  But I did notice that the ones in the middle seemed to be cooking faster than the ones along the outside so I took my little rubber spatula and gently nudged them around in the pan and flipped them over.  

Let the meatballs simmer for about 30 minutes or until cooked through.   Then just before serving I sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese on top.

We served ours with spaghetti last night and had some nice crusty French bread to sop up the sauce.  It was yummy!!!

Enjoy!!!