Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce

Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce and Shredded Brussel Sprouts.

DH loves turkey. Could eat it all year round. So I knew that when I saw a recipe in Jack Monroe‘s book for Turkey Meatballs I would have to make them for him.

They were a disaster. A didn’t-hold-together-whilst-cooking-and-ended-up-a-bowl-of-mince-type-disaster, albeit tasty. I stared at this pan of mince all afternoon resentfully until I re-imagined it as Turkey Hash. Which was utterly delicious.

But that got me thinking about meals that we like and I had a sort of gastronomic epiphany. Which may be too grandiose a term for meatballs. Gastronomic epiphanies are what happens in the Development Kitchen at The Fat Duck at Bray or The Star in Harome.

But these meatballs- for a turkey-loving-husband, and a family that like simple food fast- are cracking (deliberate Christmassy pun.)

They only require four ingredients, too:

One onion, chopped quite finely, and fried until soft and caramelly.

One packet of stuffing mix, made up as dictated on packet. I used Sainsbury’s Cranberry, Orange & Roasted Chestnut Stuffing, because I love the Christmassy flavours (and I am really not keen on Sage-based stuffing mixes.) Make up with a large dollop of butter.

One 450g pack of turkey mince– I used thigh for extra flavour. It’s cheaper than breast too!

Mix it all together in a large bowl until blended. Shape handfuls of mix into golfball-sized meatballs and fry until crispy brown and cooked all the way through. Obviously the larger you make the meatballs, the longer this will take so you may want to put them in the oven to finish cooking.

As I was cooking on the Aga I browned the outsides in my swanky Aga frying pan, the transferred to the floor of the Roasting Oven for 15 minutes until cooked through.

I served these with freshly-made Cranberry Sauce, and some shredded Brussel Sprouts– which may just be my new favourite way of cooking sprouts- and rice. But it’s really up to you!