Love substituting turkey or ground chicken for these meatballs as the flavor is mild and tastes great with the poultry. I like to use fresh spinach for this recipe and the baby leaves work best. For my bowl, I roasted sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts and served with some Greek salad, home made tzatsiki and hummus. I have included the recipe for the tzatsiki below along with the meatballs.

Meatballs:

Yield 20-24 meatballs

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds ground turkey
  • 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
  • 1 small onion, rough chop
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk ricotta
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
  • 2 teaspoons oregano

Directions:

In a food processor, place onions, garlic, parsley, spinach in food processor and pulse several times until quite fine. In a small bowl, blend ricotta and eggs and add spices to combine. Place the turkey in the processor, add the egg mixture in and pulse about 10 times to incorporate. Transfer meatball mixture to a bowl and add crumbled feta, mixing it in with your hands until distributed evenly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and gathering about 3 tablespoons of meatball mixture and roll in the palm of your hand. Repeat and refrigerate for about an hour. Preheat oven to 425, bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with any roasted vegetables, potatoes etc…as desired.

Tsatsiki:

Ingredients:

  • 1 35 oz whole milk yogurt
  • 1 grated English cucumber or 5 Persian cucumbers
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt (adjust to taste)
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

This recipe is really quite easy. The key to success is to strain the yogurt and grated cucumber to remove all the excess water. Using a colander, lined with a few layers of absorbent paper towel (or cheesecloth). Place the lined colander over a bowl and empty yogurt into lined colander. Place yogurt, colander and bowl in the fridge and allow it to strain for several hours. You will have at least a cup of water in your bowl. After you grate your cucumber , wrap in paper towel and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of cucumbers by wrapping it in a paper towel pouch and squeezing out water. Once the yogurt has strained, transfer it to a bowl, add strained cucumbers and remaining ingredients and stir. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. This ensures a creamy consistency, so don’t skip this step! Also use whole milk yogurt and the small Persian cucumbers or English cucumbers which have less water than the regular cucumbers.

Greek Salad: