I failed to resist a sale when I shopped at Costco recently. I don’t purchase packaged ground meat too often because I’m always suspicious of them. However, those 4lb of ground turkey was an attractive deal and they looked so incredibly fresh so I gave in. Only after I returned home and saw how much room they took up in the fridge did I realize what a ridiculous amount of ground turkey I bought.
One pound contributed to weeknight dinner in the form of turkey chili much enjoyed between little brother and myself. Two pounds turned into zha jiang mian which I eagerly look forward to sharing the recipe with you in the next couple of days. I ran out of idea for the last pound so I turned to Eat Your Books to search my cookbook collection. Ground turkey is pretty lean so the usual recipes calling for fattier ground meat don’t necessarily work well. The first recipe that caught my attention came from Ottolenghi The Cookbook, one of my favourites. Turkey and Sweetcorn Meatballs with Roasted Pepper Sauce sounds like something I would love to eat. The head notes say these meatballs would magically disappear because they are so quickly devoured. I have enough trust in Ottolenghi’s recipes that the dish would deliver his promise.
Among the many reasons I love both Ottolenghi cookbooks, bold flavour ranks right up the top of the list. The cumin-scented meatballs are studded with blackened corn kernels, green onions, and cilantro. I considered using breadcrumbs soaked in buttermilk for a slightly tangy filler but decided to follow the recipe to the letter by simply soaking them in water instead. For ease of handling, I briefly chilled the portioned raw meatballs in the fridge before hand-shaped them into barely flattened rounds. One important tip is to handle the meat mixture with a light touch when during portioning and shaping. My instinct is to pack everything in tightly but that would only result in tough meatballs once cooked. This mixture is easy to handle and doesn’t fall apart easily anyway so it’s better to use a light touch for tender and toothsome meatballs. The meatballs were pan fried to golden before finishing in the oven.
While the meatballs were baking, I worked on the roasted red pepper dipping sauce. Last summer, in another episode of sale-that-I-could-not-resist, I bought a case of 24 sweet red peppers for $6. My freezer is stocked with enough roasted red pepper puree to last me until next summer. I defrosted a chunk of frozen puree and blitzed it with cilantro, garlic, red chili pepper, sriracha, white wine vinegar, salt, and olive oil using an immersion blender. It took barely 5 minutes to complete! I love the mix of sweet, tangy, and spicy of this dipping sauce. Next time you see a good sale on sweet red pepper, I highly recommend that you stock up. The roasted pepper puree is such a convenience item to have around and it’s a nice reminder of the warmer months when all I see out the window is snow.
These meatballs were anything but bland especially paired with the roasted pepper sauce. My batch yielded 21 meatballs, each about 2 tablespoons in size. I enjoyed one hot out of the oven but they are equally great at room temperature as part of a bento. The cooked meatballs even freeze well too!
A version of the recipe is available at For The Love Of Food. It’s pretty close to the original recipe in the cookbook.
