Baked Turkey and Chorizo Meatballs

I wonder how many variations of the meatball exist. Of course, physiotherapy there’s the traditional meatball with marinara that’s ladled over spaghetti – a classic. There are meatballs made of beef, neuropathologist pork, advice veal, lamb, chicken and turkey. Even meatballs made without any meat at all. You can have them fried, braised, steamed, baked, poached and probably confit-ed and sous-vided too, though I’ve yet to see that.

I found a recipe for baked Chicken meatballs in last month’s Gourmet that promised to be super moist and delicious. Thinking they’d make a great weeknight meal, I immediately bookmarked it. I started out with the best intentions of following the recipe to a T. I swear I did. But of course I didn’t. Anyhow, these meatballs are really quite tasty – moist and flavorful and they hold their shape well. Everything I want out of a meatball and everything you should want too.

Baked Turkey and Chorizo Meatballs
I served these meatballs with Parmesan polenta, but they’d be great with some buttered or sauced pasta as well.

1 lb. ground turkey
2 oz. hot Spanish chorizo, casings removed and diced
2 shallots, very thinly sliced
3 slices whole wheat bread, diced
2 tbsp. sun dried tomatoes in oil, diced
1/3 cup milk (I used skim)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. kosher salt
1.5 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 375° and grease a 13 x 9 baking dish. Place the bread in a large bowl and add the milk, letting it soak for a minute or so. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the tomato paste and sun-dried tomato oil, and mix until evenly combined.

Form into balls that are about 3 inches in diameter, placing them into the prepared baking dish as you go. You should have 8 – 10 meatballs when you’re done.

In a small bowl, stir together the sun-dried tomato oil and tomato paste until combined. Brush onto the top of each meatball. Bake the meatballs for about 20 minutes or until browned on the outside and cooked through.

Makes 4 servings.