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| Mamaw making her famous Thanksgiving dressing! She uses cornbread, onion, celery, turkey pan drippings, and plenty of sage! This would make delicious meatballs, if only there were ever any left over! |
First of all, let's talk about meatballs. Typically, meatballs are first browned in a skillet and then braised in a sauce. We aren't doing that today, cause we don't really have a flavorful tomato or cream sauce to go with it. We want the flavor of the turkey and dressing to be the stars here, not a sauce. So instead, we are going to shape them, bake them, and serve them with an herb gravy!
Next, let's talk turkey. Ground turkey is bland. Everyone knows it. But, to really let the flavors of the dressing shine, we need this bland turkey to be the groundwork for some delicious meatballs. If traditional beef or pork mixture was used, we wouldn't be able to taste the dressing. Plus, it wouldn't be thanksgiving if it wasn't turkey!
So first step is to put your 1+1/2 cups of seasoned stuffing mix (use turkey or chicken flavored) into a resealable bag and crush them into a fine crumb.
Now some people like to put big chunks of ripped bread in their meatloaf or meatballs, and it works fine. So why do we have to crush our stuffing mix? Because of the way we are cooking our meatballs. If we used big chunks of bread or left our stuffing mix uncrushed, then we would have to deal with potentially having burnt or crispy chunks in our meatballs. When braising meatballs, you don't have to worry about that as they just absorb the liquid around them. So you're better off just crushing them and using them like a crumb.
Next, mix together your crumbs and your stock, and set aside. This will help add a bit of moisture to our meatballs, and help them stay packed together.
Then, in a non-stick pan over medium heat, saute your onions, celery, & garlic. Typically, this mirepoix would come with carrots, but I find that the carrots never quite lose enough of their crunch, and then you have weird meatballs with crunchy bits in them. Cook your veg for about 3-5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
Now that all your prep is done, mix everything up in a large bowl. Like my meatloaf recipe, you want to mix this as little as possible. Over mixing could result in tough and crumbly meatballs (and meatloaves). So add everything into the bowl, then mix it all up.
Now it's time to form them and stick them in the oven. Using a 1 tablespoon scoop to measure the mix out, create little meatballs by rolling the mix in your hand. Then place on a lined baking tray. Drizzle or brush each meatball with olive oil. The olive oil will give some fat to these meatballs (which they are lacking since we used lean ground turkey) and will help them brown.
Bake in a 400F oven for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. These won't get as dark brown as a traditional beef+pork meatball would, so don't cook them until they are that color or they will be overcooked, tough, and gross.
You can also make a large batch, and freeze them! After your meatballs are formed, place them on a lined baking tray and stick them in the freezer. Let them freeze for about 5-6 hours, then transfer them into an airtight freezer bag (I double bag to make sure they don't get freezer burnt). When it's time to cook them, just pull them out of the freezer and cook in a 400F oven for 20-25 minutes. Do not thaw them, as leaving them out to thaw will water-log them and make them mushy.
I serve these with mashed potatoes and an herb gravy. To upgrade your regular gravy, mix 12 oz (1+1/2 cup) of heated gravy with 1 tablespoon of finely chopped herbs. You can use rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley, or a mix of all 4!
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