Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatballs - Tasty Tuesday!

When I was at Type A a little over a week ago (wow, has it really been that long already?), the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission. I was excited because I love sweet potatoes. I'm not a fan of the overly sweet marshmallow topped confection that people try to pass off as a side dish at Thanksgiving, but sweet potatoes in a more subtle form are one of my favorite things. I make sweet potato fries and chips all the time, and the wee ones love them.

 The NC Sweet Potato Commission brought two items for us to try, and I fell in love with the sweet potato turkey meatballs (their original recipe). I know it sounds a bit odd, but they were beyond good. They were by far the best food I had onsite, and I couldn't wait to make them at home... and doctor them a little, of course.

Plated Meatballs

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatballs


Ingredients:
1 lb sweet potato, baked
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 c red onion, diced
1 t salt
1/2 t cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 T dried parsley or 1/4 c fresh
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil

Directions:
Roast your sweet potato, and this is something you can do a couple days ahead of time if you like.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and pierce your sweet potato a few times with a fork.  Bake it at 400 for 45 minutes, then let cool.

While this is baking, toast your cumin seeds in a small pan over medium heat, shaking the pan every few minutes.  Once they've toasted, use a spice grinder or mortal and pestle to grind them into cumin powder.  The toasting makes them taste so much better.  You can also use this time to dice the onion and mince the garlic so they're ready, too.  If you're using fresh parsley, roll the leaves then cut along the roll to easily chiffonade them.

Cut the sweet potato in half and scoop out the baked insides with a spoon.  Mash them well in a separate bowl with a large fork.  Once they've lost all their chunks, add the turkey, onion, salt, cumin, parsley, and garlic.  Gently mix together the mixture with your hands until the ingredients are fully incorporated.

It's easy to mash the potatoes with just a fork

Add all meatball ingredients to a bowl

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatballs

Preheat your oven (again) to 400 degrees.  Prepare a jelly roll pan lined with a sil pat or parchment paper.  Roll the meat mixture into golf ball size meatballs and place them on the jelly roll pan.  Brush them lightly with olive oil, then bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until the tops are golden and the insides are fully cooked.

These are awesome just on their own, served with some greens or corn or whatever other summer accouterments you have on hand.  They would also be great in a pasta with marinara, but I'm not cooking pasta in summer.  In fact, shhhh I actually roasted my sweet potato and cooked the meatballs on my grill so that I wouldn't have to turn on my oven in the heat.  It totally works.

Cooking Meatballs on the Grill

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

4 comments:

Sandra July 3, 2012 at 2:24 PM  

Mmmm. This sounds really good. I've flagged this in my head and will let you know when I make it! Thanks for sharing!

Jen @ TheUnProcessedKitchen July 4, 2012 at 11:48 AM  

I tried to make sweet potato meatloaf. Not quiet as successful... it was mushy. I think the small size of patties or meatballs is the way to go. I'm glad to see you made them at home and they turned out :)

Pat July 5, 2012 at 8:34 AM  

This sounds delicious, Michelle. I'm gonna make it when we return home...we've been in SoCal for almost 2 weeks.

Michelle July 5, 2012 at 1:49 PM  

Sandra - It was so good. So incredibly good. And I love how healthy it was, too. Finally I got Little Miss to like sweet potatoes - she's the only one in the family who won't eat the fries or chips!

Jen - I can see where it would be hard to cook it all the way through when it is as big as a meatloaf. Mini meatloaves might be fun though.... These definitely worked out at home, though I had to alter it just a little bit!

Pat - They were really good and a nice twist on what I make regularly. Hope you've been enjoying SoCal!

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