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This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly was Turkey Meatballs with a Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce. It was a wonderful choice by Amanda of Oddball Oven Mitt.

I have made these turkey meatballs many many times, they are a family favorite. In fact, I have even posted about them on this blog before, you can find the post here. I go into more detail about how I prepare them in my previous post. What you need to know about these meatballs is that they are delicious and full of flavor, and you cook them in the broiler so they get all crispy, almost like they are fried. (I said almost!) If you are expecting some full fat fried pork and beef meatballs, you will be disappointed. However, for a healthy alternative made with something as dry as ground turkey, these don’t disappoint.

Follow up:

Normally when I make these meatballs I serve them with my own marinara sauce, so I have never made Ellie’s recipe for quick and spicy tomato sauce. I was going to use this opportunity to try her sauce. I even bought the ingredients for it. However, this past weekend Geoff made us a pot of his ridonculous Sunday gravy that we ate with homemade pasta.

I made this Monday night, and we had just eaten pasta that weekend. So I scraped the tomato sauce and spaghetti and made some meatball sandwiches with them. I got a nice Italian semolina loaf and cut it in half. I scraped out the insides of the bread, sprinkled some part skim mozzarella cheese to cover and toasted in the oven until the cheese melted. Then I layered some sauce (I had the perfect amount of marinara sauce in my freezer for this, but I suppose I could have used the quick and spicy sauce as well). Then a few meatballs, some more mozzarella cheese and some Parmigianno cheese. The whole mess went back into the oven until the cheese was browning and bubbly.

These sandwiches were tasty and filling. I would venture to say they are the best meatball sandwiches I have ever made. Though that is not hard to achieve, since my meatball sandwich making experience is fairly limited. Once again, another delicious meal courtesy of these turkey meatballs, and Ellie Krieger of course. (And a pat on the back to me for cooking it)