Turkey Balls

Update on variety of ingredients in Turkey Ball Recipe

(4/8/13)

Updated photo by The Souper for Turkey Balls using the ingredients shown above.

(4/8/13)



Turkey Balls by The Souper (photo from first, original recipe.)

How do you make a favorite comfort food a little healthier? Without losing texture and flavor, all you have to do is switch from using ground beef to a good quality ground turkey, of course! That said, you will need to spice the turkey balls up with add-ins or cooking them in a flavored sauce. Update to this recipe: A wonderful pairing of flavor is to add White Horseradish and Sweet Pepper Relish. Yum. Note: I use Gluten-free Horseradish.

The first time I prepared a ground turkey dish was tossing the rounded balls of fresh ground turkey and cooking them in a spicy, sweet and sour sauce in a large pot on the stove top. These were a big hit with guests and of course the turkey balls with sauce partnered well with rice or couscous for a complete plateful.

To cook a very simple, tasty version of turkey balls, I prepared fresh ground turkey with ingredients as if preparing a meatloaf. Everyone has their own version of meatloaf, but I find using Panko Bread Crumbs to be an ingredient giving a meat or turkey mixture some body so the compacted meat does not become too dense. By baking the seasoned ground turkey balls, one saves some calories by avoiding a frying process for cooking.

These baked ground turkey balls can be served as an appetizer with a favorite dipping sauce or served as a main dish along side of a healthy carb and a side salad. Either way, these tiny balls of comfort are satisfying to the palate and are fun to eat.

Basic Recipe:

What you will need:
Lage mixing bowl
Small mixing bowl
Fork or Whisk
Wooden spoon
Lage baking sheet
Parchment paper
Spatula or cooking tongs
Pot holders
Large serving platter or large serving bowl

Ingredients:
Fresh ground turkey, one pound
One whole egg OR Two eggwhites
Ketchup, 1/4 cup
Worcestshire Sauce, 1/4 cup
Kosher salt, one teaspoon
Black pepper, one teaspoon, crushed
Smoked Paprika, one teaspoon
Panko Bread Crumbs, 3/4 cups or more for consistancy to form balls
Optional: add an herb or choice or chopped, fresh spinach
Update to recipe:
Horseradish, white, 1/4 cup (or more for personal taste.)
Sweet Pepper Relish, 1/4 cup (or more for personal taste.)

The Cooking Process:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook turkey balls for about 20-30 minutes until they are slightly browned. Do not overcook or they will be too dry.

With the fresh ground turkey in a large bowl, add a well-mixed egg (or only eggwhites) from the small bowl that has been mixed with the fork or whisk.
To the turkey egg mixture, add the remaining ingredients and mix with the wooden spoon to a consistancy to form a small ball with clean heands.
Continue to form balls of mixture and put them on a lined baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put the baking sheet into the preheated oven to bake.
Check often to make sure the turkey balls are not browning too much.
When the turkey balls look browned on the top, shut the oven off and remove the baking sheet from the oven.
Remove the turkey balls on to a clean platter.

Turkey Cutlets - fresh, thin with Panko Crumb Coating

Turkey Cutlets - fresh, thin with Panko Crumb Coating

Another surprise from Plainville Farms poultry products. No, I am not being paid to mention these products. I happened upon my first split-breast, fresh turkey breast at my local supermarket and raved about it in one of my blog posts recently. So when I went back to my supermarket to get another split-breast turkey breast they were featuring instead fresh, thinly sliced, turkey cutlets. These are packaged and just looked so inviting I had to purchase them.

My mind was racing with ideas for preparing these healthy poultry options. And now you can see how I cooked and presented my new favorite food. Oh, did I mention yet how quickly these little cuties cook up? It took about a minute or two on each side and...done.

I encourage you to see for yourself how fresh and easy-to-prepare these products are from Plainville Farms. Here is the link to the website:
http://plainvillefarms.com/
A reminder on my poultry and meat personal qualities: No antibiotics, No growth hormones, only vegetarian fed and humanely raised.
Plainville Farms satisfies my fresh food quality standards.

One tip worth a mention for this recipe: Panko Crumbs brown much better and produce a nice crunch to the cooked cutlet. The Panko crumbs can stay firm during the frying at high heat. (A couple of turkey cutlets were prepared, but no photo) with a coating of white flour and they did not look good after frying nor did they taste as well as with the Panko crumbs.)

If you are calorie counting: a serving of fresh turkey (4 oz. or 112 g.) has 120 calories. Depending on how you prepare the turkey, depends on the calorie count.

Preparation time for this recipe is about ten minutes.
Cooking time for all the cutlets is about 15-20 minutes. (time depends on the size and count of the cutlets.)

Here is a photo of the ingredients used in this recipe mentioned:

List of Ingredients:
Eggs, three whole eggs
Water, one half cup of cold water
Kosher salt, one tablespoon
Panko Crumbs, four cups (approximately, depending on number of cutlets.)
Black pepper, crushed, enough to sprinkle a little bit on each cutlet,
so about one half of a tablespoon, again, depending on the number of cutlets.)
Oil, one quarter cup vegetable or canola oil to begin with; add a little more if frypan gets too dry during the cooking process or the cutlets.
Parsley, one quarter cup, chopped, of fresh flat-leaf parsley

What you will need:
One medium bowl
One large bowl
One large baking sheet
Parchment paper or waxed paper
One large fry pan
One pair of tongs
One serving platter

Photos during the preparation process:

The process:
In the medium bowl, mix the eggs with water and Kosher salt.
In the large bowl, put the Panko Crumbs and spread around.
Put each turkey cutlet into the egg mixture.
Put the egg-coated turkey cutlet into the Panko Crumbs and cover all over the cutlet.
Repeat with each cutlet:
Place coated cutlets on a lined baking sheet with either parchment paper or waxed paper.
Let the cutlets dry a bit before beginning the frying process.
Pour the oil into the large frying pan and turn heat under the frying pan up to medium high temperature.
Add the dried coated cutlets into the hot frying pan with the cooking oil.
Sprinkle a small amount of the crushed, black pepper while cutlets cook.
Let the cutlets brown on one side, then with the pair of tongs, turn the cutlets over to brown on the opposite side.
Cooking time is about two minutes per cutlet side. (time depends on the heat of the cooking oil.)
Do not burn the frying cutlets.
Place the cooked turkey cutlets on to a serving platter.
Sprinkle the chopped, fresh parsley on top of the cutlets before serving.

Roasted Turkey Breast - any day of the week.

(Uncooked split-turkey breast ready to go into the oven.)

What a wonderful surprise to find a small, fresh split-turkey breast in my supermarket. This special find fulfilled my goal of purchasing poultry that fits my criteria: Humanely Raised; Vegetarian Fed; No Antibiotics; No Growth Hormones. Thank you, Plainville Farms. www.plainvillefarms.com Check out their website or on Facebook.

The simplicity of my recipe for roasting the fresh split-turkey breast on a bed of cut veggies made up of carrots, celery and onions creates a magical sauce in the bottom of the roasting pan. The flavor dripping off of the cooking turkey into the vegetables under and around the turkey breast makes a gravey that is sweet and light in texture and flavor.
If you want to enhance and thicken this gravey, just add flour mixed in some cold water, add it to the gravey in a small saucepan, heat and stir until the gravy is your style. That's it. All done.

(Cooked split-breast turkey breast)

Preparation time before cooking is about 15 minutes.

Cooking time about one hour and forty-five minutes, depending on oven temperature accuracy and size of the turkey breast. The size of this split-turkey breast is 2.58 ounces and will serve six to eight people if serving about 4 ounces per person. (or cook and freeze small portions for fewer numbers of people eating.)
Test for doneness: A meat thermometer should read 170-175 degrees F. or
until juices flow clearly with a prick into the turkey breast meat.
During the cooking process, if you check the turkey breast and see that it is browning on top, cover lightly with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent further browning and drying out.
If you notice the vegetables have very little water around them, just add a bit more for the duration of the cooking process.

Ingredients:
Carrots, 2 medium, peeled and sliced
Celery, 1 stalk, peeled and sliced
Onion, 1/2 sweet onion, sliced
Split-turkey Breast
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon, crushed
Paprika, 1 teaspoon
Olive oil, 1/4 cup dripped over the turkey breast
Water, 1/4 cup cold

Preparation:
Have oven rack in the center of the oven
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Wash and pat dry the turkey breast
Wash and dry carrots and celery. Peel and slice
Peel and slice the onion
Put all uncooked vegetables in the bottom of a roasting pan
Put the turkey breast on top of the uncooked veggies
Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika on top of the uncooked turkey breast
Drip olive oil on top of the turkey breast
Add water around the vegetables in the roasting pan
Put the roasting pan with the uncooked turkey breast and vegetables into the oven on the center rack placement.
Roast the split-turkey breast until done.

Take the roasting pan out of the oven, cover the turkey breast with some aluminum foil and let stand without cutting for about 15 minutes to let all the juices remain in the turkey breast, leaving each slice moist and flavorful.