Turkeys are a-holes.
When I was on the cross-country running team in high school we would often go to this huge apple orchard near our school to do long runs through the woods to get practice running on trails. It was great, because we would run half a mile down the trail and then stop. We’d walk aimlessly for an hour and a half, then sprint the 5 minutes back to the car so we’d look convincingly out of breath. We found lots of stuff on those trails. Well, that’s not true. We did find lots of bongs, which I guess counts as “stuff”. On more than one occasion, though, we came across a herd (Gaggle? Murder?) of wild turkeys.
Northern Massachusetts is littered with wild turkeys. Did you know they can fly? And they live in trees? I had no idea until we started running on those trails. We would stop and hear gobbling only to look up and see dozens of fat, dirty turkeys perched on branches looking down at us like they were waiting to mug us. It was absolutely terrifying.
I swear they’re worse than geese. They’ll bite and peck and chase you if you even look at them sideways. It’s no wonder the one thing the normally antagonistic Puritans and Native Americans could agree on was to set aside an entire day to kill, cook and eat as many of these birds as possible. But one day isn’t enough; we should be eating turkey all the time. Tryptophan be damned!
Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground Turkey (85% Lean)
1 Medium Yellow Onion
1 Jalapeño
½ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1 28oz Can Diced San Marzano Tomatoes
6 Basil Leaves
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tsp Dried Oregano
Preheat the oven to 375º. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Put ¼ cup of the panko breadcrumbs into a Tupperware container.
Dice onion and the jalapeño. In a mixing bowl mix the turkey, half of the onion (save the other half for the sauce), jalapeño, oregano and the other ¼ cup of the panko breadcrumbs. Once you’ve got it all mixed up take golf-ball sized portions and roll them into meatballs. Toss each meatball quickly in the leftover panko to give it a little crust (I find the breadcrumbs soak up the juices when they cook. No one likes dry balls.). Place each meatball on the baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes, giving the pan a shake every ten minutes to keep them from sticking.
While the meatballs cook, prep your marinara sauce. In a gallon pot cook the rest of your onion and the two garlic cloves on medium(you diced those too, right?) until the onion is translucent. Add the entire can of tomatoes and the basil leaves (keep those whole) and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let that sit for the rest of the cooking time. Add a little salt if you think it needs it (I don’t, but you’re an adult. Make that decision on your own).
Once the meatballs are done, toss them in the sauce and serve them up with some crusty bread or polenta. Maybe some wine too.
