Que Bueno!

I think it's time for another quick, easy, weeknight dinner.  Well, it's pretty much always time for one of those!  I made this last night for the second time and everyone loved it just as much as the first time.  Spanish Turkey Meatball Stew can be a one pot meal, or if you're like us and have an abundance of produce in your fridge at all times, a nice leafy green makes a lovely side dish.  We had steamed chard with ours last night. So let's get to it~

If you're someone that is just starting to cook or doesn't do it often, I can't stress to you enough the advantage of reading the recipe all the way through before you get started.  I sometimes forget my own advice on this and it really makes cooking WAY more stressful than it needs to be.  I also recommend doing most of your prep (especially for a quick meal like this) before you start to cook to move things along smoothly.  So, get your garlic and your onions out.

Chop your onions and mince your garlic.  Then get some olive oil into a warm pan. 

Then you toss your onions and garlic and a pinch of salt in the pan and cook until they have softened.

While those are cooking (about 6 min) you can slice up some carrots....

and chop up some fresh parsley.

Once the onions are soft, you will remove half of them to a large bowl.  The other half stay in the pan and you will add the carrots, paprika and some salt and cook for 1 min while mixing it together. 

Next you add a can of chick peas (always drain and rinse, there's alot of sodium added to canned beans!), a can of low-sodium chicken broth and two cans of diced fire roasted (the flavor of these is fantastic) tomatoes.

 Bring this to a rapid simmer and cook for about 6 min or sauce until thickened slightly.

While the sauce is simmering, add the ground turkey, parsley and a tsp of salt to the onion mixture that you put in the bowl.  Mix well.

Roll the meat into 20 meatballs.  I'll confess, I only had 19 because one of them was a little on the large side.

Plop those meatballs right in the sauce and continue to simmer for about 7 min, turning them over about half way through.

The meatballs will cook, sauce will thicken some and your house will smell fantastic.

And there you have it.  A yummy, satisfying meal in 35 min.  Not bad my friends, not bad.

Spanish Turkey Meatball Stew (Food Network Magazine)

2 TBS olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1 cup sliced small carrots
2 14oz cans low-sodium fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 15oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 1/4lb ground turkey
3/4 cup loose packed fresh parsley, chopped
fresh ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 min.  Transfer half of the mixture to a large bowl.

Add the paprika and carrots to the remaining onion mixture in the skillet and cook 1 min.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas and chicken broth; bring to a rapid simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 6 min.

Meanwhile, add the turkey, parsley, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper to the bowl with reserved onion mixture and mix with your hands.  Form meat mixture into 20 meatballs.  Place meatballs in the skillet with the sauce and simmer, turning once, until cooked through, about 7 min.  Serve with more pepper and fresh parsley.

Enjoy!