Thursday, April 30, 2009

CEIMB: Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce and Linguine


The recipe this week was chosen by Oddball Oven Mitt. I thought this was a great recipe that was really simple to make.

I used ground turkey breast which was somewhat of a mistake because it made the meatballs a bit dry. Also, I used one 28oz can of crushed tomatoes - they weren't fire roasted because such combination did not exist at the Publix. I also used one small can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. Also, in place of the chipotle, I used cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. I pretty much followed the remaining parts of the recipe!

Notwithstanding all of the chopping, this was a really easy recipe to make. It was very flavorful and very filling. I served it over linguine. I wish I liked wheat pasta, but I just don't. It always turns out gummy -- like overcooked pasta. Yuck!

Thanks for choosing a great recipe this week! I will definitely be making this sauce again. Next time though, I will probably skip the meatballs and just put the meat in the sauce.

7 comments:

  1. glad you liked this one. All that chopping and prep work is easy, but very annoying.

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  2. I'm glad you liked this one. I made Ina Garten's recipe a while back and it was good too. Can't wait to see what is on the agenda for next week! And yes, I'm excited about my refrigerator. I have not had an icemaker in eight years!!

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  3. I couldn't find the fire roasted either. But the italian plum worked ok. As for the meatballs, Ted thought the same as you..dry.
    It was an ok recipe,but I think I'll stick to my own concoction for meatballs and sauce.

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  4. I used ground turkey breast also and my meatballs were a little dry. Did you simmer yours in the sauce? I didn't, and I wonder if that would have helped them be less dry.

    And I'm starting to think crushed fire roasted tomatoes do not exist.

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  5. Glad you enjoyed this Jen! This one is definitely a keeper for us. I would definitely double the sauce though. I ended up using cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes and they seemed to work out okay. Just needed more of them :-) The meatballs were a tad dry, but didn't bother me - I thought the flavor was good. Yours looks fantastic!!

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  6. I loved this one! It was a lot of chopping, but I used the medium microplane for the veggies that went into the meatballs so that made it a lot easier. I goofed and bought the wrong tomatoes and it still worked.

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  7. You're right, scrapping the meatballs altogether would definitely be quicker in a pinch. And I think the flavors would still be good in a meat sauce!

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