Cheesemonger's Mac & Cheese

This is the last mac and cheese recipe for a while, I promise. That’s what happens when you try to find your go-to recipe – a lot of testing various things to see how you like them. The basics of mac and cheese are to make a roux, add milk, add grated cheese and mix until it forms a sauce, then mix with cooked pasta. For a stovetop version, serve immediately; for a baked version, put it in a baking dish, top with cheese and/or breadcrumbs, bake and serve. And yet there are so many variations it’s mind-boggling! This one if from Bon Appétit. It was delicious, though I must confess I forgot to top it with the reserved cheese – I’m sure it would have been even better then! The main caveat here is that it calls for a lot of brie, and if you get the quality stuff, you can expect to spend $20 on brie alone. So it’s not an everyday dish, sadly. That being said, it wasn’t bland like many versions can be – the pungent brie was toned down a bit, but still made everything taste delicious, and it went really well with the sharp cheddar and gruyère. Note that I didn’t have ramequins the right size, so I made the whole thing in a 9”x13” dish and it worked well.

1 ½ cups coarsely grated lactose-free gruyère cheese
1 ½ cups coarsely grated lactose-free sharp cheddar cheese
1 ½ cups diced rindless Brie (cut from a 1-lb. wedge)
5 Tbsp. butter or margarine, divided
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
¾ tsp. (scant) nutmeg
4 cups lactose-free whole milk
1 ¾ cups fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French bread
1 lb. penne pasta (or short pasta of your choice)

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until tender but firm to bite. Drain when ready.

Meanwhile, mix all cheeses. Set aside 1 cup for topping; cover and chill. (Do your best not to forget that cup in the fridge…)

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until mixture turns golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add thyme and nutmeg. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until thickened and smooth, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add cheeses from large bowl. Stir until melted and smooth.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs; toss. Stir until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to plate.

Preheat oven to 375 °F.

Transfer the drained pasta to a large bowl. Pour cheese sauce over; toss. (This was still soupier than I expected, but it reached the right consistency in the oven.) Divide among eight 1 ¼-cup custard cups (or a 9”x13” baking dish). Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese (don’t forget!). Place cups on rimmed baking sheet. Cover with foil; bake 15 minutes. Uncover. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake pasta until beginning to bubble and tops are golden, about 20 minutes.

Miso Pumpkin Soup

This recipe from The Kitchn is a really great version of squash soup. I made it with butternut squash, because that’s what is most readily available at this time of the year, but other types of winter squash would work really well. I love that the vegetables are roasted before going in the soup (even though my version recommends roasting them longer than the original recipe did), as this gives them great flavor. I used a white miso paste that is very mellow and barely discernable. I didn’t have shichimi togarashi, so I completely winged it with Korean pepper, sesame seeds and lemon juice, along with green onions for garnish. The Little Prince can’t handle a spoon well enough to feed himself, but once he allowed me to feed him, he really liked this too!

2 lbs. kabocha, pumpkin, or butternut squash
1 lb. sweet potatoes
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, chopped
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
3 Tbsp. mellow white or yellow miso (gluten-free if necessary)
5-6 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons chopped chives or scallions
½ tsp. shichimi togarashi, for garnish (see note above)

Preheat oven to 450 °F.

Seed the pumpkin and cut it into small cubes. If the pumpkin is easy enough to peel raw, such as a butternut squash, peel it before cutting and roasting. (A pumpkin with a harder skin, such as a kabocha, may be cut and roasted and the peel removed afterwards.) Peel and cube the sweet potato as well.

Combine the pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and garlic on a baking sheet, toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the pumpkin and sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes, tossing halfway through. If you left the pumpkin skins on, peel when cool enough to handle.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over moderate heat. Add the shallots and ginger and cook until softened. Add the miso and vegetable stock and stir until dissolved. (I recommend adding 5 cups of stock at first; once the soup is puréed, if you want it more liquid, it’s easy enough to add more stock, but the reverse isn’t true.) Add the roasted vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn down the heat if necessary to avoid boiling, as this can impair the flavor of the miso.

Purée the soup using an immersion blender, or purée in batches in a blender or food processor.

To serve, garnish with chives and a sprinkle of shichimi togarashi.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

It’s been a while since I posted a dessert recipe, mainly because the ones I’ve made lately have been lackluster. I’ll list them, not because I think you care, but because these posts serve as a sort of record-keeping for me, so for my own reference, here’s what I tried. There were salted peanut butter chocolate chunk oat bars, which were supposed to be a breakfast item, but were so goram sweet that they were too much even for dessert. A coconut chocolate cake had much less sugar, but while the Engineer loved it and compared it to a macaroon in cake form, I only found it ho-hum at best. Then I made maple cake pops with maple cookies, marshmallow crème and white chocolate. Disaster! The consistency of the pops was all wrong and they fell apart when I tried to put them on sticks. So I made balls instead, but the recipe should have called for adding something like coconut milk to the melted white chocolate, because it was not at all the right consistency for dipping (and there wasn’t even enough of it to do the whole batch). Again, those pops were too sweet for my liking, which is saying a lot. Next time, I’ll make actual cake pops, not imitation cookie pops. (I’ll also have to figure something out for a cake pop stand, because it turns out that my strainer’s holes are too small the prop up the cake pop sticks. I used a cheese grater, but it was less than ideal and probably couldn’t hold much more than a dozen at a time. I’m open to ideas that don’t involve me buying a block of floral foam.)

So this brings us to this chocolate hazelnut cake. To tell you the truth, this one initially disappointed me too, but I now realize that it was my expectations of it that weren’t met. You see, the recipe called for cutting the cake into two layers. However, perhaps my cake was flatter than the original (the center did collapse, after all) or perhaps my hazelnuts weren’t ground finely enough, but this proved absolutely impossible. The cake crumbled apart when I tried it, so I aborted the mission. This means that I had to improvise: the vegan chocolate buttercream that was meant to be sandwiched between both layers ended up smeared on top of the cake, filling the crater in the center, and I poured the ganache directly on top of it, without having enough on the sides of the cake to even consider covering them in hazelnut meal. (Just for fun, you should check out the original recipe at the link to see how nice her cake looked!) My result wasn’t pretty; I found the crumb a bit gritty and uncooperative, and I would have needed more ganache to get better coverage. That being said, if I hadn’t seen what the cake was “supposed” to look like, I would have been more at peace with my version! And it was actually very good. I think if I make it again, I’ll make sure to process the hazelnuts a bit more, I’ll put the buttercream on top of the cake, and I’ll drizzle it with ganache (instead of evenly covering the whole thing with it). That’s what I’m recommending below, if you want to try this cake.

For the chocolate hazelnut cake
1 ½ cups hazelnut meal
¾ cup all-purpose gluten free flour blend
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt
½ cup non-dairy milk, room temperature
½ cup water
2 tsp. white vinegar
½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
¼ cup coconut oil
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate buttercream
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance margarine
2 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
2 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2-3 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate ganache
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
¼ cup non-dairy creamer

For the chocolate hazelnut cake
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Prepare an 8-inch round cake pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and lining bottom with parchment paper (I used a springform pan and recommend it).

Sift together hazelnut meal, flour blend, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, stir together milk, water and vinegar until curdled.

In small microwave-safe bowl, add chocolate chips and coconut oil. Microwave on medium-low for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave an additional 15 seconds. Stir until chocolate chips are completely melted. (I did this on a double boiler.) Add to milk mixture, along with sugar and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake cake for 32-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place cake on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

For the chocolate buttercream
Beat together margarine and shortening for 1 minute in large bowl of standing mixer. Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons creamer and vanilla. Add another tablespoon of coffee creamer if needed. Beat buttercream until light and fluffy.

Place cake on serving platter or cake stand. Top with buttercream. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

For the chocolate ganache
Mix chocolate chips and creamer in small bowl. Place in microwave for 30 seconds on low, stir. Microwave for another 15 seconds. Whisk until chocolate chips are completely melted and ganache is smooth. (Again, a double boiler works well, too.) Pour ganache over the top of chilled cake. It sets fairly quickly, so if you want to use a spatula to smooth it out, do so immediately. Otherwise, you can drizzle it in a pattern of your choosing.

Pommes de terre rattes rôties à l'érable

J’ai fait quelques plats de pommes de terre dont je ne vous ai pas parlé. Pourtant, ils étaient bons, mais simplement pas photogéniques. Admettons quand même que c’est rarement photogénique, une patate, hein? Il y a eu une recette indienne, des pommes de terre à la farine de pois chiches et aux graines de pavot, puis ensuite une casserole de pommes de terre avec crème sure et fromage (un vrai délice que je ressortirai sûrement à l’Action de Grâce). La plus récente, par contre, je la partage. Elle est tirée du site J’aime l’érable . ca. Il faut faire cuire les pommes de terre au four longtemps, mais le temps de préparation actif est minime, ce qui me plaît. Je n’ai pas trouvé de pommes de terre rattes, alors j’ai pris de petites pommes de terre à chair jaune – c’est quand même facile à adapter, cette recette. Elles sont servies ici avec des boulettes de viande et du minibrocoli.

1 kg (2,2 lb) de pommes de terre rattes, lavées
¼ tasse de gras de canard
2 c. à soupe de sirop d’érable
3 branches de thym ou de romarin frais
gros sel de mer et poivre du moulin, au goût

Placer la grille au centre du four. Préchauffer le four à 350 °F.

Tapisser une grande plaque à cuisson de papier aluminium. Mélanger tous les ingrédients, puis saler et poivrer.

Cuire au four environ 1 heure 15 minutes en remuant fréquemment pendant la cuisson.

Lemon Braised Chicken and Beans with Mint Pesto

I had put off this recipe from The Kitchn for a long time, mostly because I don’t want to cook with dried beans at this point (I don’t have enough space in the pantry to keep them on hand anymore). The recipe calls for a lot of mint, too, and I was hoping the mint in my garden would grow enough for it, but I decided that given the hot climate, summer probably wasn’t going to help things. I felt that this would be a great seasonal recipe, though, in the sense that it seems like a transition between spring and summer, so I forged ahead. (If you don’t have that kind of weather yet, don’t feel jealous; I’ll be roasting down here when you enjoy pleasant summer weather, and you can make that chicken then.)

I ended up using mint from the grocery store, and I again referred to this article from Serious Eats to figure out I needed 3 cans of beans instead of 1 pound of dried beans (and no water). I also omitted the dill, because I’m not crazy about it. Anyway, the result was fantastic! The beans were a creamy, lemony delight, and pretty much overshadowed the chicken, as good as it was. We had lots of leftovers, too, as the recipe makes about 6 to 8 servings. My version is below. If you feel like it, you could use basil instead of mint for the pesto. It would change the taste, but it would still be wonderful. Note that while the dish cooks for a long time, it’s mostly hands-off and very easy to make.

For the mint pesto
4 packed cups mint leaves (or basil, see note above)
1/3 cup blanched almonds (optional)
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
¼ cup olive oil, plus more if necessary
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blend all the ingredients in a small food processor until finely chopped. If not using immediately, store in the refrigerator with plastic wrap completely covering and touching the surface of the pesto to prevent oxidization.

For the chicken
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small white onion, diced
3 cans (15 oz. each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 lemons
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat the oven to 350 °F. In a 4-quart (or larger) Dutch oven or heavy ovenproof pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are tender and the onion is nearly translucent. Add the beans and stir to coat the beans with the garlic, onion, and oil. Turn off the heat.

Take a sharp vegetable peeler and carefully peel one of the lemons. Peel it in wide strips, taking care that you remove only the top yellow layer of peel and not any of the bitter white pith. Add all of this shaved lemon peel to the beans and stir. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the beans. (Reserve the second lemon for later.)

Pat the chicken dry, and lightly salt and pepper it. Lay it on top of the beans in the Dutch oven. Lay the thyme sprigs on top (I used just the leaves and not the sprigs, but do as you wish). Cover the pot and put it in the oven. Bake for 1 ½ hours, or until the beans are very tender and creamy.

Remove the lid from the pot, and take out the chicken and put it to the side on a plate. Remove the thyme stalks (or just leave the thyme leaves right in there, it’s fine). Zest and juice the second lemon, and stir the zest and juice into the beans. Shred or chop the chicken and place it back on top of the beans. Top with the mint pesto and serve, ideally with good bread to soak up the sauce.

Savory Cauliflower Cake

I’ve seen this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi a lot lately – I found it on Serious Eats, but last week it was also on Gluten-Free Girl’s Instagram feed, for example. The name of it was originally cauliflower cake, but that seemed misleading to me, as if it should be sweet. It’s not, it’s definitely a main course. It’s halfway between a cake and a frittata – there’s no crust as there would be in a quiche, but there’s enough flour that the inside is closer to batter than omelet. So I’m calling a savory cake, for lack of a better word. In any event, the cauliflower almost disappears in there; the result is a delicious dish, and pretty to boot! We all loved it, even those of us who normally don’t like cauliflower. Note that I couldn’t procure nigella seeds in a brick-and-mortar store, so I replaced them with black sesame seeds.

1 small cauliflower, leaves removed, broken into 1¼-inch/3-cm florets (1 lb./450 g.)
1 medium red onion, peeled (6 oz./170 g.)
5 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. finely chopped rosemary
7 eggs
½ cup/15 g. basil leaves, chopped
1 cup/120 g. all-purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1/3 tsp. ground turmeric
5 oz./150 g. coarsely grated parmesan or another mature cheese
melted unsalted butter or margarine, for brushing
1 Tbsp. white sesame seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds (see note above)
salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Line the base and sides of a 9 ½-inch/24-cm springform cake pan with parchment paper. Brush the sides with melted butter, then mix together the sesame and nigella seeds and toss them around the inside of the pan so that they stick to the sides. Set aside.

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes, until the florets are quite soft. They should break when pressed with a spoon. Drain and set aside in a colander to dry.

Cut 4 round slices, each ¼-inch/5 mm thick, off one end of the onion and set aside. Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place in a small pan with the oil and rosemary. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Transfer the onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil, whisk well, and then add the flour, baking powder, turmeric, parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt, and plenty of pepper. Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower and stirring gently, trying not to break up the florets.

Pour the cauliflower mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly, and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and set; a knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving. It needs to be served just warm, rather than hot, or at room temperature.

Passover Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Here’s a timely post, for once: Passover! I thought I’d round up a few links: A Food Lover’s Guide to Passover and how to clean one’s kitchen for Passover (which is more thorough than many spring cleanings, and I love that). I was going to throw in another one with a funny Haggadah from 2010, but upon reading it again, it’s not that funny, so I’ll spare you.

It occured to me that I never got around to posting these Passover meatballs, even though I mentioned them before. So, the recipe IS in Second Helpings, Please!, but on page 208, in the Passover section (makes sense, right?). They’re very easy to make, they just need to simmer for a long time (about 2 hours total). We all love these meatballs! If you’re making them when it’s not Passover (or if you’re not celebrating Passover), you can probably just use breadcrumbs instead of seeking out matzo meal. My mother-in-law often serves these with rice, but I served them with carrots and chickpeas last time and with potatoes (recipe to come) and broccolini tonight.

2 lbs. minced meat
2 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ cup water
3 Tbsp. matzo meal
20-oz. tin of tomato juice
1 cup ketchup
½ cup sugar
few grains sour salt (I use sea salt)

Combine meat, eggs, seasoning, water, and matzo meal and mix well. Form tiny balls. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add meatballs. Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Remove cover and simmer ½ hour longer.

Batch of links - Food allergies

- I knew that pink peppercorns weren’t true pepper, but are often considered that way (similarly, fresh corn is considered a vegetable even though it is a grain, and quinoa is considered a grain even though it is a seed). Here’s something I didn’t know: pink peppercorns are actually related to cashews and can cause a reaction in people with tree nut allergies. This is really important to know, as many labels lack that warning (!) and restaurant chefs may not be aware of it.

- While we’re talking spices: the FDA says that recent shipments of cumin, both ground and whole, have tested positive for undeclared peanut protein. I’m really glad they caught this!

- This post is mostly for parents of a child with food allergies: Don’t panic. Make a plan. And here’s a good example of an emergency care plan, in PDF form.

- Learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction (it’s a useful document because it goes further than the typical hives and swelling that we all associate with an anaphylactic reaction).

- Another one for parents: the truth about having children with food allergies. This made me realize that I need to be careful what snacks I bring to the playground, even if it’s just for my (thankfully non-allergic) child, because what if he had cross-contaminants on his hands and got them on the play equipment for an allergic child to touch?

- And 25 things only a food allergy parent would understand (I sympathize).

- We now have even more data on the fact that introducing allergens early actually reduces the risk of allergies later on in life. Alice Park wrote an article about it in a Time magazine earlier this month, which had data I knew already (“3 times more peanut allergies since 1997”) along with some I hadn’t seen before (actual numbers like an “86% lower allergy risk when infants ate peanuts” – this study was done on children who had eczema and egg allergies and whose immune system was already primed to react to antigens). It also explains that the body comes in contact with allergens in two different ways, either through skin contact or through ingestion. It would appear that a good balance of those two pathways helps reduce the risk of allergies, and that the body is more likely to perceive an allergen on the skin (like through a mother’s kiss) as a threat, while being more likely to accept an allergen through the gut on the first encounter. I couldn’t find the online version, but there’s a very similar article published a few weeks earlier that is much more detailed, and I think the print version is actually a summary of it. Here’s the online version.

- I’m not a complete downer, however. Did you know that there are promising desensitization therapies for peanut proteins being researched right now? One is a skin patch being developed by a French team, who might expand the treatment to other allergies if it is successful (it might be on the market in a few years). The other involves probiotics and has already had successful human trials in Australia (more details here).

- Also, chef Brooks Headley recently wrote an article in Bon Appétit on why people of his profession should embrace allergies and dietary restrictions. This was very refreshing to hear, and I wish more chefs would follow suit (I know it hasn’t always been my experience, but then again I rarely ask for accommodations and try to eat around my restriction, since it isn’t life-threatening). It also seems to have struck a chord with readers, as positive comments are still coming in.

Sauce bolognaise aux lentilles

Bon, vous allez trouver que ça fait un peu répétitif, deux recettes de pâtes avec sauce tomate et viande, d’affilée. Mais vous saurez que celle des boulettes de dinde au pesto, je l’ai faite il y a quelques semaines, et celle-ci, je l’ai sortie du congélateur pour le souper d’hier. Je l’avais faite il y a des mois de ça, et je n’en avais jamais parlé parce que je pensais être la seule qui avait aimé ça. Mais hier soir, eh bien, le Petit Prince, après avoir boudé son assiette un bon moment, s’est décidé à goûter et a conclu qu’il aimait assez ça pour apprendre à dire le mot « sauce ». Et l’Ingénieur a garni son assiette de Cholula et il a adoré (même qu’il ne se souvenait pas vraiment y avoir goûté auparavant). Alors voilà, c’est une sauce qui saura plaire à tous, ou du moins, la deuxième fois. Elle n’est pas végétarienne, mais elle contient quand même moins de viande qu’une sauce bolognaise traditionnelle, et plus de légumes. Et puis, c’est bon pour la santé, les lentilles! Je l’ai adaptée de Coup de Pouce. Je vous confirme que la sauce se congèle très bien! Vous en aurez environ 2 litres.

1 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive
1 oignon coupé en dés
1 gousse d'ail broyée
1 poivron rouge haché
1 contenant de champignons, coupés en quartiers (10 oz./284 g)
12 oz. (375 g) de bœuf haché maigre
1 tasse de lentilles rouges sèches, rincées
1 boîte (28 oz./796 ml) de tomates broyées
1 tasse de sauce tomate (j’en avais une boîte de 15 oz.)
1 tasse d'eau
2 c. à soupe de pâte de tomates
½ c. à thé de sel
½ c. à thé de poivre noir du moulin
1 c. à soupe d'origan frais, haché
1 c. à soupe de basilic frais, haché
1 c. à soupe de persil frais, haché

Dans une grande casserole, chauffer l'huile à feu moyen. Ajouter l'oignon et l'ail et cuire, en brassant, pendant environ 3 minutes ou jusqu'à ce qu'ils aient ramolli. Ajouter le poivron et les champignons et cuire, en brassant, pendant 5 minutes. Ajouter le bœuf haché et cuire, en défaisant la viande à l'aide d'une cuillère de bois, pendant environ 5 minutes ou jusqu'à ce qu'il ait perdu sa teinte rosée.

Dans la casserole, ajouter les lentilles, les tomates, la sauce tomate, l'eau, la pâte de tomates, le sel et le poivre et bien mélanger. Porter à ébullition. Réduire à feu doux, couvrir et laisser mijoter, en brassant de temps à autre, de 40 à 50 minutes ou jusqu'à ce que la sauce ait épaissi. Incorporer l'origan, le basilic et le persil et poursuivre la cuisson pendant 10 minutes. Servir avec vos pâtes préférées, avec ou sans fromage.

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

I made another recipe from Weelicious, and once again, it was a hit. The Engineer and the Little Prince both love meatballs, and I think that their popularity at the table makes me love them too, even though I didn’t often think to make them before. The only problem I ran into was that the meatballs were undercooked when I followed directions, so I upped the temperature and left them in there longer until my thermometer indicated that they were done. A quick search in the comments on the blog revealed that others ran into the same issue. I fixed it in my version below – my way worked for me, but another reader suggested baking at 400 °F for 20 minutes. If you want to make these dairy-free, use dairy-free pesto and either substitute nutritional yeast for the parmesan or omit it altogether. For the tomato sauce, store-bought is fine; I’d suggest doctoring it with some herbs and spices if necessary. I served these with orzo.

1 ¼ lbs. lean ground turkey
¼ cup pesto
¼ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
2 cups tomato sauce (such as marinara)

Preheat oven to 350 °F (see note above).

Place all the ingredients (except for the tomato sauce) in a bowl and using your hands, combine until everything is incorporated.

Using about 1 tablespoon of the mixture per meatball, roll into balls and place on a plate.

Pour the marinara sauce into a 9”x9” pan (I think I used a 9”x13” pan, actually) and top with the meatballs.

Cover the baking pan with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Uncover, increase the temperature to 450 °F and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.