Turkey Meatballs with a Minted Yogurt Dipping Sauce ottoman turkish

We saw Emeril make these little bites and just had to try them. I’m a huge ground turkey fan, and this was a delicious recipe for it. We ate them as our entire meal along with some toasted bread, but they’d be great appetizers as well. Or, make yourself a meatball sandwich! The yogurt dipping sauce is a must, though… really adds something special to the meatballs.

We also substituted soy creamer for the heavy cream, and used regular plain yogurt instead of the whole milk/greek yogurt. No loss there. :)

Turkey Meatballs with a Minted Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Makes 3-4 dozen. Recipe from Emeril.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, plus a pinch
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/8 teaspoon
1 1/4 cups plain whole milk yogurt, preferably Greek, drained overnight in a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh sieve
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced

DIRECTIONS
Place the turkey in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet and, when hot, saute the red onion and scallions until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Let cool slightly, then add to the turkey, along with the garlic, cumin, bread crumbs, heavy cream, egg and egg yolk, 3 tablespoons of the mint, the parsley, 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly. Using a small scoop or spoon, divide the mixture into 1 tablespoon portions and roll into smooth round balls. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour.

While the meatballs are chilling, make the dipping sauce. Combine the yogurt, remaining 1 tablespoon of mint, remaining 1/4 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt, remaining1/8 teaspoon of pepper, and lemon zest, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve the meatballs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush the meatballs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Let the meatballs cool slightly, then serve warm, with the yogurt dipping sauce.

Yield: About 5 1/2 dozen bite-size meatballs, generous 1 cup sauce, serving 6 to 8

Turkey Meatball Sliders and Red Sauce

Taylor was in heaven when we made these little puppies. I managed to convince him to use ground turkey meat instead of the three-meat combo, but being that I’m not a big tomato fan, he doesn’t get robust red sauces too often. And for a ball of meat covered in red sauce, they weren’t bad. :)

Turkey Meatball Sliders and Red Sauce

Makes 6 servings. Recipe from Bon Appetit.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)*
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 14.5-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

DIRECTIONS
Mix all meats, panko, 1/2 cup water, 6 tablespoons cheese, egg, egg yolk, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in large bowl. Form into eighteen 2-inch-meatballs.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry meatballs until brown all over. Transfer to plate. Pour off drippings from skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Add olive oil to skillet. Add onion, garlic, basil, and fennel seeds. Sauté until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add all tomatoes with juices. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to low, cover with lid slightly ajar, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Puree sauce in processor until almost smooth. Return to same skillet. Add meatballs. Cover with lid slightly ajar and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes longer. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.

Place arugula leaves on bottom of each roll, if desired. Top each with 1 meatball. Drizzle meatballs with some of sauce and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons parsley and 2 tablespoons. cheese. Cover with tops of rolls.

Leftover Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa Ottoman Turkish

You know you found a good use for your turkey leftovers when the meal is good enough that you’d make it again some other time of year. Who knew turkey leftovers could be so good?

For the cranberry sauce, I used a few spoonfulls of our Vanilla Cardamom cranberry sauce, and then maybe 1/4 cup of our Grand Marnier Cranberry glaze. I also added a kiwi, just because I had one and it seemed like it would be a good fit. And it was! With this one, or anytime, be sure to wear gloves when cutting the jalepeño… it’s two days later and my fingers are still burning!

Leftover Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa

Recipe from Simply Recipes, with adjustments.

INGREDIENTS
Small flour tortillas
Cooked turkey meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
Mixed greens
Avocados, diced

Cranberry Salsa
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries, or premade cranberry sauce/glaze.
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
Zest of one orange (or, 1 tablspoon orange juice)
Chopped serrano or jalapeno chili to taste (about a half a chili, but taste for desired heat)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced
Dash of salt

DIRECTIONS
Prepare cranberry salsa. Combine cranberries and apple in a food processor and pulse until coarsely shredded, about 10 short pulses. Combine shredded cranberries, orange zest, chile, and sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit 15 minutes for the cranberries to macerate. Add cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste. You can also use cranberry relish, just add chopped chiles and cilantro.

Heat a large frying pan (preferably cast iron) on medium high heat. Unless you are using freshly made homemade tortillas, you will need to soften them first. Working one or two at a time, spread a little butter on one side of the tortilla and fry it in the hot pan for a few seconds on both sides. Most commercially made tortillas will bubble up a little when cooked like this.

Sprinkle one side of the tortilla with grated cheese, and cover one half of the tortilla with turkey meat. Fold over one side of the tortilla onto the other (like an omelette. Cook until the cheese is melted. You may need to flip the tacos over to cook the other side, but if the cheese is completely melted this is unnecessary.

Serve with cranberry salsa, fresh shredded lettuce (sprinkled first with a little vinegar and salt), and avocados.

Turkey, Turkish, Ottoman “Surprise” Baklava and Spices Gone Wild

So as I was slaving away during my 3-hour-solo-dinner challenge the other night, I figured, I’ve already got the phyllo dough out and thawed, why not make baklava too?

While it was good in principal, and actually ended up being pretty tasty, it could have been a disaster.

You see, the recipe calls for 1 to 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon in the filling.

That, my friends, is cayenne pepper. I don’t think I even need to say what happened here. Poor Taylor, still on the floor, heard me start swearing in the kitchen and panicked thinking I cut myself. Nope, but I did just dump in a boatload of cayenne into the freshly ground nut filling.

I hadn’t stirred it yet, luckily, and managed to skim off ‘most’ of the offending spice. Reground some more nuts, and hoped that you wouldn’t be able to taste it in the final product.

You couldn’t. In fact it was a decent baklava. I used the recipe I found here, using maybe 2/3 almonds (some regular and some marcona), and then the rest walnuts, because I ran out of almonds. I think it could have been better… I wasn’t too fond of the walnuts in there. Anyone have a killer baklava recipe that they swear by?

I do have to say, that this experience has reinforced the fact that our spices are out of control. Maybe if the labels hadn’t rubbed of the bottles, the above disaster could have been avoided. But the spice rack is just the beginnging…

It all started with the spice rack. Until you realize that you cannot be limited by the 16 random spices that someone decided to fill it with (Dill Weed, anyone?).

Then things start to migrate into the spice drawer. Good in concept – the drawer is just deep enough to lay down one row of spice bottles. But when that gets full, and you start buying bigger bottles and bags of spices… well..

That’s when things really start to get messy. They get thrown on a shelf in the cabinet. The very deep shelf that makes them almost impossible to find (”Taylor, where’s the oregano?” I say with my head as deep inside the cabinet as it will go. Maybe I should just get Kitty to get it for me).

They multiply, I tell you! And we’ve just discovered the wonder of spice that is the international food store, which only sells spices in large bags. Too much to transfer to a bottle (not that there’d be room in the drawer anyway), we need some spice mason jars or something. But where on earth would those go?!?

And thus I pose another question – how do you keep your spices under control? We have limited space – that drawer and some counter is about all of the room we have for any spice-containment-unit.

Lentil, Turkey, & Apple Wraps, Turk, Turkish, Ottoman, Arab

Make the best of the fall apples – stick them in anything and everything. You’d be surprised how well they work with just about everything. Like these crisp and refreshing wraps. They’d be good, but somewhat dull if it weren’t for the bright crunch of the apple. These would make a great lunch (or they DO make a great lunch – we had the leftovers the next day and enjoyed them just as much as we did the night before).

Lentil, Turkey, & Apple Wraps

Makes 4-6 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup dried brown lentils
1/2 cup dried French green lentils
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 medium tomato, cored, seeded, and diced
1 small Fuji apple, cored and diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 (12-inch) flour tortillas
3/4 pound turkey breast, thinly sliced
1/2 head Bibb lettuce

DIRECTIONS
Place the stock, lentils, celery, carrot, thyme, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes, depending on the lentils. (If they begin to dry out, add water as needed.) Remove and discard the thyme. Drain and transfer the mixture to a bowl; let cool.

Fold in the tomato, apple, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season with the pepper.

To assemble a wrap, place 1 tortilla on a clean work surface. Spread the lentils in the center, top with the turkey and lettuce, and fold up the bottom, left side, and right side before rolling away from you.