Meat-a Balls!

Getting my post-pneumonia self strong again would be so much easier if I was actually interested in eating. The past couple of weeks have not been my finest when it comes to cooking or eating well, and yesterday I mustered up all of my energy to create a hearty meal, at least for my husband to eat well.

Justin’s recent post on “tomato, onion, and butter” sauce got me thinking about making sauce, and since I am home all day for the moment and am in love with my new Le Creuset pot, I decided to make meatballs and sauce.

My sauce consisted of just a few ingredients: 2 teaspoons of tomato paste,1 can crushed tomatoes, 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes, a small yellow onion, 2 cloves chopped garlic, a few teaspoons of basil-infused olive oil, and a few pats of Kerrygold butter. Mid-way through cooking, I also added a generous pour of Castello di amorosa Il Brigante red wine.

I started by sautéing the onions in a mix of olive oil and butter.

Once the onions had softened, I mixed in one of my favorite ingredients, tomato paste. I love the flavor that it adds to the sauce as well as to chili and soups.

I finally added in the rest of the ingredients and left the sauce to bubble on a very low flame for hours.

About 2 hours before dinner time, I returned to the kitchen to make the turkey meatballs. I used a container of ground turkey, 1 egg, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, and generous shakes of both dry basil and red pepper flakes.

I used my hands (ewwww) to form them into meatballs and then lightly browned the meatballs on the outside in a pan lightly coated with olive oil. Once they were all browned, I placed them in the sauce, turned the heat up, and really got it bubbling for about 20 minutes before turning the heat back down and simmering until we were ready to eat.

I didn’t have the energy to make homemade pasta, so I used a new boxed fettuccine that I picked up at the grocery store, Ronzoni Garden Delight, a pasta that boasts a full serving of vegetables per serving.

It was very pretty and tasted just like regular old pasta.

I plated the pasta and topped it with the sauce and meatballs, a mix that became so rich and flavorful during the cooking process. It was a VERY good dinner! So good that I actually felt like eating a whole bowl of pasta and 3 meatballs. This is something that is best for a weekend or vacation day because, while I do make some good, quick pasta sauces, this really benefits from the time spent on the stove.

What do you like to cook most when you have the time?

I can’t believe it that I am leaving for the Foodbuzz Festival tomorrow! If you are going let me know so I can make sure to say hi!