Cherry Stuffed Meatballs

Turkey meatballs with a surprise inside.

Step 1 Season meat

Combine the following:

Ingredients
2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 c bread crumbs (the dry canned ones)
2 eggs
few cloves garlic, grated (to your taste; I used around 8 big cloves)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
1/2t teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (or thereabouts)
lemon zest
pinch dried thyme, oregano, basil, allspice, etc

Other potential ingredients: parmesan cheese, hot peppers, finely chopped fresh herbs

Mush the ingredients together in a big bowl, then find some dried cherries.

I used dried bing cherries from Trader Joe's, but just about any dried cherries will do so long as they're not overly sweet.

Comments

[Laura Rebecca]

These look really great. It might be tasty to swap out the cherries for dried cranberries, too.

[trebuchet03]

Out of curiosity, because I've never made meatballs from scratch, how would I make these in a slow cooker... I just don't want them to fall apart :)

[kellyhogaboom]

To make meatballs in a slow cooker, you need to brown them first. End of story. Dust them with flour, or not, and fry them (in small batches). Then (using a slotted spoon) throw them in the slow-cooker (sauce already hot), top with the lid, wash your skillet, and man will those suckers be amazing in a coupla hours. You can follow canida's simmering soup recipe - make sure the soup is simmering actively. It works well - but meatballs dropped into soup will be softer than the seared-then-slowcooked ones. Man. I am wishing I wasn't a vegetarian. I miss meatballs tons, hence I've looked at them twice today online. ;-)

[trebuchet03]

So that's how they do it :p Thanks :)

[canida]

I don't really use slow cookers, so can't say anything terribly useful. I'd be worried about them falling apart too. Most of my meatball experience says to cook them individually, and only add them to a liquid or sauce very late in the game. However, I've dumped small raw meatballs directly into simmering soup pots before to good effect; this presumably worked because 1) they didn't cook terribly long, and 2) the simmering soup kept them from sticking to the bottom or each other and turning into mush. Hopefully someone else will have slow-cooker insight.

[trebuchet03]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to experiment :) If all goes "wrong" -- I'll make a meat sauce :)

[Kintri]

hi i recently tried making IKEA style swedish meatballs but I don't get the same texture. Is it because I only fried them and didn't bake them after browning? Is there a difference if you bake them?

[fungus amungus]

Looks tasty. That fork reflection is really hot and distracts from the savory picture.

[canida]

Better?

[fungus amungus]

Yeah. Look at that yummy food!

[Crash2108]

I like where you're going with the fork action. You could probably do some pro shit. You should keep the fork centered in the shot, though.