Bryan Mayer
Director of Butchery Education, Fleishers Craft Butchery
www.fleishers.com
Dad to Yvie, five-and-a-half
Thanksgiving thoughts: “Save meatball parmesan for beef, pork or veal. Turkey meatballs are a great way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers, especially leftover gravy. It's fun for kids to get their hands dirty mixing the ingredients and there's a secret math lesson in measuring everything out. I use a 1-2-3 method to form the balls...I scoop, plop into my hands, and then whatever the ball looks like after 3 seconds that's it! I don't like perfectly round meatballs. I like lots of nooks and crevices to hold all that sauce, or in this case, gravy."
Recipe
Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey (preferably from a full pastured and/or heritage bird)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley (if not using fresh a good rule of thumb is 3:1 fresh to dry)
1 1/2tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
Mix ingredients together and shape into round balls. Be careful not to overwork the mixture. Form meatballs using a small ice cream scoop, and drop the meatballs onto a sheet pan covered with tin foil (meatballs can also be placed on a wire rack inside the sheet pan, but I prefer to let them cook in their own rendered fat. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°
Meanwhile, heat gravy in a medium saucepan on the stovetop. Once meatballs are cooked, drop them into the gravy to get fully coated. Remove and serve with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce!
photo: Bryan Mayer