The lightest turkey and ricotta meatballs with tomato sauce and cheese polenta
Helping answer the age old question of what to have for dinner tonight...
Spring has sprung! Or at least it feels that way and the change in the seasons brings a change in food and a change in mood. I tend to err towards lighter and brighter food when the weather warms up but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love something comforting. This dish ticks all the boxes for me. Hearty, but healthy and somehow still light. Also something nice and summery about not turning the oven on - this is all hob based and I like that sometimes.
These meatballs really are so incredibly good. You can make them with chicken, turkey, pork or lamb - it doesn’t matter because the star of the show is the ricotta (isn’t it always?!) But seriously, the ricotta makes these meatballs so light and tender, they kind of melt in your mouth. Really every time I make these I declare they are one of the best things I’ve made and I think they are. And simple too - yes meatballs do require you to get your hands dirty (literally) but it’s just a little bit of mixing and then rolling and you’re good to go. This recipe makes more than you need to feed yourself and one other but I recommend that you make the whole batch because they freeze so well and then you can have them again soon without any faff.
Now let’s talk polenta, it’s such a great base for so many dishes. I think it gets a hard time with people thinking they don’t like it but it makes a great alternative to mashed potato and it’s very forgiving to cook. You can have it like thick mashed potatoes or you can have it a bit more velvety and silky - the choice is yours. Either way I love it with lots of butter and parmesan whisked in at the end. I mean, of course!
I think this is my favourite way to have it where it’s creamy and scoop-able but you can also cook it, then pour into a lined baking tray and pop it in the fridge until it’s cold. Then simply slice into chips and deep fry until golden - v good hot and then rolled in grated parmesan. In fact you could make double the recipe and do this with the left overs. Excellent with something like ratatouille and a green salad for a very delicious lunch.
You can get quick cook varieties of polenta which really are very quick - we are talking less than 5 minutes kind of quick, and then you can get the traditional slow cook kind. And of course it will be no surprise for me to tell you that the quick cook stuff is more than okay and what I tend to use for most things. The best advice with polenta is to look at the packet of the one you got and do as it tells you. I like to cook mine with a mix of chicken stock and milk and then I always finish with butter and parmesan and I highly recommend you do the same.
If you really can’t get your head around polenta, then of course you could sub mash in this recipe or would be really delicious with rice, or cauliflower mash or pasta for that matter. The most important thing is that you eat the meatballs.
2 as a main (with extra meatballs to spare) or 4 as a starter
For the meatballs - makes 12 meatballs (approx.)
(I would recommend making the full batch even if it’s just you eating or you’re cooking for 2 people, simply because they freeze very well and there’s so much comfort to be gained in knowing they are in the freezer)