So, continuing with the cheese survey/marketing thingy I'm participating in, I had to follow the cheese. From conception, to use, to finished product. I won't bore you with the gory details of the before shopping and during shopping photos. They're not very blog-worthy. But it did get me thinking about what inspires me to use cheese...I mean other than the gooey, stringy, deliciousness that is, well...CHEESE!
I toasted 1/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs in 1 T ICBINB. I've never toasted bread crumbs before. I'm not sure I'd do it again. It didn't seem to enhance the flavor of the meatballs. I'm not sure I'd take the time to perform that step again. *shrugs*
I allowed those to cool in a mixing bowl while I boiled 1 cup of water in the microwave. I put about 1-2 ounces of sun dried tomatoes in the water to reconstitute. In an effort to try to trim the fat from my diet, I didn't buy sun-dried tomatoes in oil or water. I just bought plain, sun-dried tomatoes dry in a pouch.
I have a few scoops that I use for meatballs, cookies, and even muffins! I love scoops. It makes it easy to have uniformily sized items (cookes, meatballs, etc) so they all cook at the same time. Sometimes I get a little over zealous with the meatballs and I start to see them get bigger and bigger... Then I stop and tell my inner heffer to stop messing with my portion sizes! And start making them smaller again.
While they were baking, I was trying to figure out what type of sauce. I somehow forgotten to purchase a jar of light Ragu like I usually do, and hit the pantry to see what I had on hand. Not much that I could whip up just for me. I had planned on reheating these later in the week with a nice and light tomato cream sauce with some canned tomatoes I had. Yeah...that didn't happen. S was starving when he got home, and
I took some of the sun-dried tomatoes and put them in the water as I was boiling my pasta. When the pasta was done, I removed the tomatoes and put them in my mini food processor and blended them with 1/2 cup of the pasta water. I added this to a saucepan with about 2 T of tomato paste and some garlic. When it had come to a simmer and reduced slightly, I added about 1/3 cup of FF half and half. And THIS is what it all looked like:
The sauce was just light enough so the delicate flavors of the meatballs could shine through. It was very yummy! I think I still have some meatballs in the fridge and may try to make some sammies out of them this weekend. I will have buns left over from my Buffalo chicken sliders.
Okay. I just ate and I'm getting hungry again. This is not good. I need to stop now before I faceplant into the Hershey's I bought.
Sun-Dried Tomato Turkey Meatballs with Cavatappi and Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
- 1 T I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Stick
- 1-2 oz sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup Egg Beaters
- 1 T 1% Skim Milk
- 3/4 pound ground turkey, lean ground
- 8 ounces cavatappi or other short pasta
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
- 2 T tomato paste
- 1/3 cup fat free half and half
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add butter; stirring until melted. Add the bread crumbs and toast until browned. Remove from heat and add to medium mixing bowl.
- Boil 1 cup of water a microwave safe dish for 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and allow to steep for 20-30 minutes. Once reconstitute, drain and finely chop. Add tomatoes to bread crumbs. Add next 4 ingredients (garlic through milk) and stir until combined. Add turkey and fold into bread crumb mixture.
- Roll into approximately 15 medium sized meatballs and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Turn meatballs over, rotate pan, and bake an additional 15 minutes or until done.
- While meatballs are cooking, heat a large saucepan full of water on high heat. Add 1/4 cup of sun-dried tomatoes. When water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook according to package directions, omitting oil and salt. Remove tomatoes from the pot with a slotted spoon, being careful not to remove pasta with the tomatoes. Combine tomatoes and 1/2 cup of pasta water in a food processor and process until smooth.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add tomato puree to saucepan and 2 T tomato paste; stirring until combined. Allow to simmer for a few minutes or until thickened. Add 1/3 cup of fat free half and half and allow to cream to heat just until boiling. Add the pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Serve with the meatballs.
0 comments:
Post a Comment