With bread stuffing in the meat mixture and a whole fresh cranberry nestled in the centre of each one, these turkey meatballs are one-bite turkey dinners.
All the familiar flavours are there, including fresh herbs from the garden, golden brown turkey, and a beautiful cranberry sauce for serving.
Here's how I made them:
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup onion, small diced
1 1/4 cup bread, cut into small cubes
1 1/2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 lbs ground turkey
1 egg
1 340 g/12oz bag of fresh cranberries
While my oven preheated to 400 degrees (F), I melted my butter in a large skillet over medium/high heat. I added the onions and cooked them for a couple minutes until soft. Then I added the bread cubes, herbs, salt and pepper, and stirred gently for a few more minutes while everything got festive together, then removed the skillet from the heat.
I used the heels of a sandwich bread loaf for this simple stuffing mixture, fresh from the bag, and I cubed them a little smaller than I normally would for a turkey stuffing.
To a large mixing bowl, I added my turkey, egg, and stuffing mixture and used my hands to bring it all together. One at a time I formed the meatballs, pressing my thumb into the centre to make room for a fresh cranberry. With the cranberry tucked inside, I closed the opening and placed the meatballs on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ending up with about 30 meatballs.
The meatballs went in the preheated oven for 25 minutes to get all golden and lovely while I prepared my cranberry sauce.
Here's how I made it:
the rest of the bag of cranberries
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup water
I brought all the ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan over medium/high heat. The heat was lowered to a simmer while the sauce thickened for another 5 to 6 minutes. That's it! Sweet and sour and lovely.
Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas or a holiday potluck appetiser, or any time at all!
What do you like to make with ground turkey? Do you have an amazing cranberry sauce recipe? Leave a comment and share your links and holiday cooking ideas!