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Tag: panko crumbs

Cheesy Meatballs

As you may know I love making burgers and meatballs.. this recipe like yesterdays included ricotta cheese… very delicious!

  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 medium shallot, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • ¼ cup ricotta cheese
  • ½ cup shredded cheese (I used a mixture of mozzarella and parmigiano)
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ cup panko crumbs soaked in ¼ cup milk
  • 4 cups marinara sauce

Transfer turkey, shallot, garlic, ricotta, shredded cheese, salt and egg into a medium bowl. Mix well and let it sit for 2 to 3 hours. Add the panko crumbs and mix well. In the meantime, add the tomato sauce to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Form the meatballs and add to the simmering tomato sauce. Cook the meatballs covered with a lid for about 20 minutes. Take the lid off and check for seasonings. Serve with whole wheat spaghetti.

Leftover Black Rice and Beans Cakes

I love repurposing leftovers into something completely different. These cakes were delicious and made a great lunch with a salad….

  • 1 cup leftover black rice and beans
  • ½ cup leftover steak, chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • ½ cup panko crumbs
  • ½ cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Left over blood orange and tomato sauce

Add the rice, steak, egg, green onions, panko crumbs, cilantro and salt to a medium bowl. Mix well and form into 4 to 5 cakes. Heat a frying pan with the olive oil. Place the cakes into the pan and cook on a medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve with the sauce.

Mediterranean Meatballs

Here is another delicious recipe for one of our favorite things to eat. I am afraid, I will be running out of ideas soon for making different kinds meatballs. I realize I can use different kinds of meats, etc but I do love using turkey meat as it is so healthy to eat, especially since I am trying to reduce the amounts of red meat I feed my family.

This particular one has a mixture of sundried tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts and basil. The mixture adds a delicious flavor to the meatballs as well as the sauce. The trick to soft meatballs is the panko breadcrumbs soaked in milk. The meatballs come out melting in the mouth. The sauce is made with fresh cherry tomatoes- super simple to make and the most delicious as well.

Overall, it is a fabulous meal to make. I also made a warm spinach salad and served red wine with dinner- yum!!

  • 1 pound ground turkey (dark meat)
  • 4 to 5 sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts
  • 1 cup basil, chopped

Add the shallot, garlic, into a food processor and process till smooth. Add the sundried tomatoes and basil. Process till smooth and take out into a medium bowl with the turkey.

  • ½ cup panko crumbs
  • ¼ cup milk

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 15 minutes.

  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Add the soaked breadcrumbs, egg and salt into the turkey mixture. Mix with both hands. Keep aside.

Marinara Sauce

  • 1 can (28 oz) cherry tomatoes (or any other)- put through the food mill
  • 1 small yellow onion, grated
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • A pinch of sugar

Heat a heavy, wide saucepan with the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic. Saute on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, thyme, basil, salt and sugar. Mix well and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for at least 20 minutes.

In the meantime form meatballs (the mixture makes about 14 meatballs). Drop the meatballs into the simmering sauce as you form them. Once all the meatballs are in the saucepan, simmer covered for 15 minutes. Check for seasonings and serve with spaghetti.

1 pound spaghetti, cooked al dente
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons salt

Once the pasta is done, drain it well and place it back into the pan. Add the oil, basil and salt. Mix well and keep ready for the meatballs.

Serve the meatballs on top of the seasoned spaghetti.

Turkey Meatballs with Broccoli Rabe

Meatballs with Broccoli Rabe

  • 1 pound dark meat turkey
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • ½ cup basil
  • ½ cup parsley
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • ¼ cup pine nuts

Process the garlic, basil, parsley, lemon zest and pine nuts in a food processor till all is chopped well.

  • ½ bunch broccoli rabe, greens taken off, blanched, squeezed and chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs soaked in ½ cup milk (for 10 minutes)
  • 2 cups tomato sauce

Transfer the tomato sauce into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer.
Add the turkey, processed herbs, broccoli rabe, egg, cheese, salt and bread crumbs into a medium bowl. Mix well and form meatballs and slide into the simmering sauce. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer and cook meatballs covered with a lid for 15 minutes. Taste for seasonings and serve with pasta.

Indian Style Meatballs

Indian Style Meatballs I have mentioned this many times- my daughter loves meatballs. In fact, her birthday is coming up and I already know what she will be asking for her special meal. The great thing is that she comes up with really good ideas for new and different ingredients to add to meatballs.

I have to give her full credit for this recipe. She is the one who suggested I make Indian style meatballs. She loves the Indian style burgers I make quite often- in fact she doesn’t like to eat plain burgers restaurants as she only likes the ones I make at home.

So, I ran with her idea and came up with this delicious recipe. I added the usual suspects including ginger, garlic and a shallot. I also added cilantro, coriander powder and garam masala. All of these ingredients created delicious and flavorful meatballs.

I cooked them in my favorite homemade tomato sauce. You can use your favorite store bought tomato sauce as well but nothing like the homemade variety.

This is a great way to change up your usual meatball recipe and make things a bit more interesting…

  • 1 pound ground turkey (dark meat)
  • 1 medium shallot, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 inch fresh ginger, chopped
  • ½ cup cilantro

Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and cilantro into a food processor and process till smooth.
Take the mixture out into a medium bowl.

  • ½ cup panko crumbs
  • ¼ cup milk

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 15 minutes.

  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Add the soaked breadcrumbs, egg, garam masala, coriander, and salt into the shallot mixture. Mix well and add to the ground turkey. Mix with both hands. Keep aside for 2 to 3 hours.

  • 3 cups marinara sauce

Heat the sauce in a large saucepan.

In the meantime form meatballs (the mixture makes about 14 meatballs). Drop the meatballs into the simmering sauce as you form them. Once all the meatballs are in the saucepan, simmer covered for 15 minutes. Check for seasonings and serve with spaghetti.

Leftover Cabbage Fritters

Cabbage Fritters So, after I made the cabbage dish, I had quite a bit of it leftover in the fridge. I thought of serving it again a few days later but somehow wanted to transform the vegetable into something else. Cooked cabbage tends to be mushy- which is fine but that is what I don’t like about it. I decided to do something about it and change it up into something crunchy and even more delicious.

What do you do with delicious leftovers?? You make fritters, of course! I decided to add an egg, peanuts, raisins and the secret ingredient- panko breadcrumbs. I love using these Japanese breadcrumbs. They provide a delicious crunch in everything.  I incorporated everything and cooked them in a non-stick pan with a bit of oil.

The crunchy fritters were delicious- the chopped raisins provided a surprise burst of sweetness and the peanuts were crunchy. It was amazing to transform the cabbage into delicious fritters. Now I can’t wait to make the cabbage again so I can eat the fritters again!
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Greek Meatballs- Revisited

Greek Meatballs Revisited My daughter loves meatballs. Whenever I ask her to guess what is for dinner- inevitably, she guesses spaghetti and meatballs.

We had family coming over and I asked my daughter for suggestions for a meal- of course she asked for meatballs. She requested the Greek ones I had made a while ago. I don’t like to repeat a recipe if I don’t have to .. so I started thinking about how to make these meatballs different from the ones I made before. While looking at the previous recipe, I realized I did not use any kalamata olives. That was it- I decided to add some into the meat mixture. The combination of the feta and olives made the dish deliciously salty and nutty.

It was a big hit. I served it with spaghetti, a big green salad and garlic bread. My daughter thought it was a perfect meal…
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