Confession of a millennial — this recipe was in inspired by that episode of Friends when Monica and Phoebe’s new beau agree on their dislike for sun-dried tomatoes and Chandler pipes in with “What’s wrong with sun-dried tomatoes?” to everyone else’s dismay. I do remember when sun-dried tomatoes were in all the foods, but I’m pretty sure that was back when restaurants still had smoking sections and honestly, I wouldn’t mind if sun-dried tomatoes made a comeback! Anyway, I got a hankering for sun-dried tomatoes which I happened to have in the back of the pantry and decided to throw something together.

Disclaimer: As you know, I’m not very technical with my cooking and tend more towards intuition and experimentation rather than following recipes to a tee with perfectly measured ingredients. Units below are approximated.

Sundried Tomato Turkey Meatball Ingredients

1/2 small white onion
4 baby Bella mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
5 caperberries
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil
1/2 tsp. each: dried oregano, basil, thyme, black pepper, Himalayan pink salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 lb. ground turkey
1 tbsp. avocado oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. Use a food processor to pulse onion, mushrooms, garlic, caperberries, sun-dried tomatoes, and spices in a until ingredients are finely minced.

3. Blend tomato mixture with ground turkey in a large bowl until well combined. Alternatively, you can add the ground meat to the food processor instead of combining by hand.

4. Use a 1/4 measuring cup to make 10 uniform meatballs and set aside.

5. Heat a large cast-iron pan (or any oven-safe pan) over medium heat and drizzle with avocado oil.

6. Add the meatballs gently shaking the pan with one hand as you use tongs in the other hand to flip or move the balls so the sides are evenly browned. This can also be done in batches if you don’t have room in the pan for all of the meatballs.

7. Return meatballs into the skillet (if the browning was done in batches) and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes until they’re cooked through.

Normally, I would pair meatballs with a more traditional, vegetable-packed marinara but I thought the combination of tart sun-dried tomatoes and briny caperberries would go well with a creamy sauce, like pesto. A quick pesto is one of my go-to’s to preserve basil I don’t want to go bad. It’s so easy to make (I use my mini food processor for quick and easy cleanup!) and one of my weekend meal prep mainstays.

Vegan Cashew Pesto Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews, preferably soaked 2-3 hours in water and salt, then drained and rinsed
4 loosely packed cups fresh basil, stems removed
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
dash of balsamic vinegar (optional)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until finely ground and well combined.

Putting it all together…

Serve with conventional pasta or gluten-free alternatives like brown rice or quinoa pasta, or my favorite — spiralized vegetables!

Whether using my Paderno spiralizer or in this case, my mandolin for a jardiniére cut with zucchini or yellow squash, I ALWAYS follow these steps to prevent soggy, watery zoodles:

• Once cut, place zoodles in a colander and mix with a good sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt and let sit over a plate for at least 30 minutes to remove extra moisture.

• Hold colander over sink and gently press additional water out (don’t overdo it or they might get mushy!)

• DO NOT add raw noodles to your sauce, instead dry saute the noodles in a large pan or wok for a few minutes, then add your sauce to the pan and combine until hot.

• Add pesto zoodles to a bowl and top with 2-3 meatballs. Voila! There you have a nutritious and delicious, dairy free and gluten free meal in a bowl.

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