Meatball Fusion: Mideast meets Midwest
Ever since Fast Food Nation, suspicion as to the source of ground beef has given us pause. But we do love our meatballs and spaghetti. And so does Frankie!! She eats about two golf ball size meatballs per meal. That's a good thing. But, what to do about the meat situation?

First, I used ground turkey (ca. 7% fat) in my typical meatball recipe. OK but not great. It's not the same texture as sirloin or lower cuts of beef and, ultimately, unsatisfying. I got this idea from a food called Kibbe. There's tons of recipes and methods to make Kibbe but it's just kind of middle eastern-style meatloaf. The critical elements include ground lamb and cracked wheat and then spices, binders, etc. It's baked or fried. It's interesting. The idea I had was to change the texture of meatballs made with ground turkey using cracked wheat. They are awesome. I don't miss the sirloin a bit. Got to be made in advance though. I think the cracked wheat hydrates over time to change the texture; you don't taste it explicitly but I believe it has a huge effect on the mouthfeel of the turkey in the meatball.

Kibbe-Influenced Turkey Meatballs and Tomato Sauce for Pasta
1. Mix the following ingredients by hand:
ground turkey, 1 lb (I use higher fat stuff)
bread crumbs, ca. 1/2C
cracked wheat, ca. 1/2C
milk, 2T
salt and pepper
parsley,dried, 1T
finely diced onion, 1/2
egg, 2
grated reggiano, 2T

2. Shape into golf ball size meatballs (for little hands)

3. Plop directly into sauce [our sauce is no more than a couple slivers of garlic sauteed in olive oil, can of crushed tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper]

4. Let it all simmer gently for a couple hours. We typically use it over then next week but not right away. It's very acidic because of the tomatoes, should hold up easily a week in the fridge. It does for us. And there's never anything left. I'd eat these things cold for breakfast.
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