Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Turkey...take 5?

Bringing the soup to a simmer.
Where did April go? It came and went in such a blur (please don't remind me that it is now late May). To ring in a new month, I wanted to make something new.  Well, maybe not new but there is a twist that is new for me. I've read plenty about the benefits of using ground turkey rather than ground beef, and I've tried it on more than one occasion. Typically those experiments failed for one or more reasons, but mostly because I had a hard time with the texture and strange odor of ground turkey. I never had Whole Foods or Trader Joe's before though. What a difference quality makes. Now that I've tried good ground turkey (and there was no strange odor at all!), it makes me feel a little queasy thinking back about that weird odor and wonder why it was present on more than one occasion?! At any rate, new data suggests that ground turkey can be wonderful, actually quite tasty.

Meatballs in a muffin tin.
It started with meatballs. I love them. In sauce, in soup, on a sandwich. Meatballs are good. Experimenting with ground turkey in something that I already enjoy so much makes sense to me because it is hard to make a meatball I don't like. These meatballs are particularly tasty because they incorporate a fair amount of something else I really enjoy- fresh herbs. The herbs, fresh sage, basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley and arugula, get finely chopped in a food processor along with onion and garlic. The aroma is incredible! The herb mixture is all you need to keep the meatballs together, no need for an egg or breadcrumbs. I like to make small meatballs and cook them in a mini-muffin pan in a 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Delicious and so much less work (and fat) than frying them!

Amazing turkey meatballs with herbs.
From there I imagined a nice clear broth with greens floating alongside my meatballs. I saved some of the herb mixture from my food processor to start the soup, and got it sizzling in some olive oil. I added fresh broccoli, as well as some shredded carrots, and let it get bright green before adding water (about 4 1/2 cups), salt and pepper. Once the water came to a boil I tossed in a chunk of Locatelli rind, which is one of the secrets to flavorful broth if you ask me, and the cooked meatballs. The soup simmered for about 30 minutes or so. Toward the end of cooking I added some coarsely shredded arugula and kale, along with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I am so happy I decided to give ground turkey another try because these meatballs are yummy, and the soup turned out to be more flavorful than I anticipated.

Meatball Soup with freshly grated Locatelli.

A crisp, refreshing white that doesn't overpower the herb flavors.


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