Turkey Zucchini Feta Meatballs

These Turkey Zucchini Feta Meatballs are delicious just as they are, baked till golden, as an appetizer or add them to a sauce to serve with pasta. It's kind of magical how the zucchini seems to disappear as they bake so objectors likely won't even notice it. 

I know that summer is the time when zucchini is meant to grow in abundance and people complain when neighbors leave baskets of it on their porches. Or supposedly that happens. It has never actually happened to me! 

But I got a bit of a giggle out of the sign at my nearby Sprouts Farmers Market that declared the produce I know as zucchini was Italian squash. Is this like rebranding prunes to dried plums? I have to admit, Italian squash sounds just a bit nicer and certainly more sophisticated than zucchini. (Or we could go all British and call them courgettes.) 

The results of multiple web searches seem to agree they are the same vegetable. Let’s take a poll in the comments. Do you call them zucchini or Italian squash? Or courgettes?

Turkey Zucchini Feta Meatballs 

This recipe is adapted from one in the New York Times Cooking section.  If you don’t have ground turkey, substitute chicken or pork. 

Ingredients

2 medium Italian squash or zucchini (approx. weight 11 oz or 312g)

1/2 large shallot

1/2 cup or 40g panko bread crumbs

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 oz or 57g feta, crumbled

1 lb or 450g ground turkey

1 large egg

Olive oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

Cut the stem ends off of the zucchini and discard. Line a plate or cutting board with two paper towels and grate the zucchini onto the paper towels with the large holes of your grater. 

Push the zucchini around till it covers the paper towels completely to allow as much moisture as possible to be absorbed. Roll the zucchini up in the paper towels and set aside. 

Add the panko, cumin, red-pepper flakes, salt and feta to a large mixing bowl. Peel then grate the shallot and add it in as well.

Gently use the tines of a fork to toss until combined. Tip in the grated zucchini and mix again. 

Add the turkey and stir gently until combined. 

Pop the egg in the middle and break it up with the tines of your fork. Now mix it in with the fork until thoroughly combined. 

Use a spoon or small cookie dough scoop to divide the mixture into about 32 pieces, around 2 tablespoons each. Use wet hands to form them into round meatballs and place them on the prepared baking sheet. I use a two-tablespoon scoop which makes short work of this part of the job.

Rolled smooth at the top and right, merely scooped for the rest of them

Drizzle the meatballs with olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. 

For more browned meatballs, broil (grill) for a few minutes at the end, if desired. It's not necessary for cookedness (I wasn't sure that was a word but spellcheck is on board!) but they do look nicer, especially as we are using turkey, a lighter colored meat. 

Enjoy! 

It’s time for my Baking Bloggers to share recipes again! This month’s theme is ground meats aka mince to the Brits among us. Many thanks to our host and organizer, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the recipe links below. 

• Baked Chicken Fingers by Sneha’s Recipe
• Baked Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Bierocks (German Beef & Cabbage Stuffed Rolls) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Hawawshi (Egyptian Meat Stuffed Bread) by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Pierogi Shepherd’s Pie by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tater Tot Cottage Pie (Shepherd’s Pie) by Palatable Pastime
• Turkey Zucchini Feta Meatballs by Food Lust People Love

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Homemade Ginger Ale

Homemade ginger ale is a refreshing treat in hot weather, cooling you down even as it sort of warms you up inside. Make some and pour yourself a glass! 

I am a pure chili pepper eater from way back. When I was eight years old, my party trick was to eat whole pickled jalapeños, much to the amazement of friends and classmates. Raw ginger, on the other hand, I just can’t do. It burns! My mother-in-law is the opposite. Ginger - yes, chili pepper - no!

When she was living in Singapore and I would visit, we frequented an outdoor eatery that specialized in Chinese cooking. There was one dish - stir-fried vegetables with bits of chicken - that I had to eat with caution. 

Sometimes that slice of vegetable was an innocent bamboo shoot, sometimes it was a take-my-head-off piece of fresh, crunchy ginger. When I’d get one between my teeth by accident, my nose felt like it did when I was a kid and got chlorinated pool water all up it. Not nice. Horseradish and hot English mustard in more than small quantities have the same effect on me. 

I’d watch agog, as my mother-in-law ate not just the slices of ginger on her plate but the ones I pushed aside on mine! 

Ah, but cooked ginger. That is a whole ‘nother animal. Along with garlic and onions, it is the base of my favorite Burmese curry paste. Spicy sweet tomato chutney would not be the same without it. Not to mention ginger ale and gingerbread and ginger lemon snaps. Cooked ginger is one of my favorite things!

Homemade Ginger Ale

If you are a scale user (and I hope you are!) you will find it helpful to know that the weight of the ginger before peeling is 7 3⁄4 oz or 300g. This recipe makes about 1 1/4 cups or 300ml syrup. 

Ingredients

For the ginger syrup:

1 1/2 cups or 220g ginger, chopped and peeled 

2 cups or 480ml water

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

Pinch salt

To make one serving of ginger ale:

2-3 tablespoons ginger syrup

3/4 cup or 165ml chilled seltzer or club soda (half a can)

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Ice

To garnish:

Lime slices (optional)

Method

To make the syrup: Bring water with ginger to a gentle boil then lower the temperature to simmer and continue cooking, covered for 45 minutes. 

When your timer rings (you did set a timer, right?) remove the pot from the stove and leave the ginger in to steep for another 20 minutes. 

Strain the ginger out through a sieve and squeeze the ginger to get as much juice as possible out. Discard the ginger. 

Pour the strained ginger water back into the pot along with the sugar and pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the liquid has reduced to about 1 1/4 cups or 300ml. 

Pour the hot syrup into a heatproof vessel and chill before using. Keeps for up to one week in the refrigerator or freeze in an ice cube tray for longer storage. 

To assemble the ginger ale, put two or three ice cubes in a glass. Add in the lime juice and a slice of lime, if desired. Pour in the ginger syrup then top up with seltzer or club soda. 

Stir gently to mix the juice and syrup in. 

Enjoy!

If you are a fan of ginger, this is the perfect Sunday FunDay for you! Check out all the great recipes we are sharing today with ginger. Many thanks to our host, Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds.

• Chukku Malli Kashayam (Dry Ginger Tea) by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Ginger & Lemongrass Tea by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Ginger Snaps by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Ginger Spiced Pickled Figs by Palatable Pastime
• Green Masala Potato & Egg Curry by Sneha's Recipe /
• Ground Beef Stir Fry byA Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Ginger Ale by Food Lust People Love
• Hot and Sour Soup with Pork by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mrs. Coughran's Southern Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Spiced Chickpea Flour Gnocchi with Coconut Spinach Sauce

These spiced chickpea flour gnocchi are deliciously savory bites, tender on the inside and golden on the outside, served on a divine coconut spinach sauce so good you will want to lick the plate not to miss a single drop. 

When I first saw the delicious. magazine recipe from which mine is adapted, I questioned calling these little squares gnocchi because they were unlike any gnocchi I’d ever seen before. Gnocchi dough is rolled into a long sausage then cut in bits and boiled, right? If you are French, you might cook it à la poêle, in a pan browned in butter, but it's still little ovals of potato pasta.

But just a couple of weeks later, I was researching Roman recipes for another blogger event and I came across many for gnocchi that reminded me of my crispy polenta. Case in point, Serious Eats' Gnocchi alla Romana. It is indeed very similar in method to this chickpea flour version, aside from the shape. 

So I guess the potato gnocchi I’ve been making all these years is Italian, not Roman, but my crispy polenta is! Who knew?

Anyhoo, name aside, you are going to want to make these guys. We absolutely loved them and the spiced coconut spinach sauce as well. I'm not kidding when I say you'll want to lick the plate. It looks like a lot of ingredients and many steps but they are all super easy. Give this a try! You will not regret it. 

Spiced Chickpea Flour Gnocchi with Spinach Coconut Sauce

Here in the States, bags of spinach generally come measured in ounces and/or pounds. If you live elsewhere and can get a one kilo bag, go ahead and use the whole thing. This recipe is adapted from one in delicious. magazine, the UK edition, from the talented Chef Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Club in London.

Ingredients

For the gnocchi:

3 cups or 735g Greek yogurt (sub a non-dairy yogurt to make this vegan friendly)

1 3/4 cups or 210g chickpea (gram) flour plus extra for dusting

1 1/2 cups + 4 teaspoons or 375ml water

1 piece (about 1 in or 2.5cm) fresh ginger

4 small hot red chili peppers

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon asafetida (if you can't find this, skip it. I'm addicted to the aroma of asafetida but I can't say I notice much of a flavor difference when it's added to a recipe)

1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds aka kalongi 

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Plus canola or other light oil for pan frying

For the coconut spinach sauce:

28 oz or 794g young leaf spinach

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon gram flour

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

4 hot red chili peppers, minced

3/4 cup or 180ml coconut cream (not milk - we want the thick stuff for extra flavor!)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

For the tempering:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 whole dried red chili peppers, broken into small pieces

2-3 sprigs fresh curry leaves

Method

Line a 9x9 in or x 23x23cm pan with baking parchment. 

Peel the ginger and cut the stems off of the chili peppers. Chop the ginger roughly. Use a small food processor to mince both finely. Alternatively, you can use a pestle and mortar to grind them into a paste. 

Use a little of the water measure to rinse the processor or mortar to make sure you don’t leave any ginger/pepper behind. 

Mix all the gnocchi ingredients together in a pan and whisk to combine.

Cook gently for 12-15 minutes until thickened and shiny, whisking, then stirring as it thickens, all the while.

Transfer to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly to cool. Cover well with cling film and chill for up to 24 hours. 

When you are ready to complete the dish, put a 1/4 cup or 60ml water in your largest pot that has a lid. Bring it to the boil then add the spinach. Pop the lid on. If you don't have a pot this large, put as much as you can in, then add handfuls as the spinach shrinks and makes room until it's all been added.

Cook for 1-2 minutes or until wilted. Tip it into a bowl with ice water. 

Drain in a colander. Put a bowl under the colander when most of the water has drained and push down on the spinach so even more water drains and collects in the bowl. 

Purée the spinach in a food processor, adding a little of the spinach water, if necessary to get it moving. Set aside. (yield: 2 3/4 cups spinach purée)

Heat the oil for the coconut spinach sauce in a medium sized pot over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, then the garlic and stir until the garlic is golden. Add the chickpea flour and stir until it gives off a roasted aroma about 1-2 minutes. 

Add the spinach puree to the pan and bring to a slow boil, stirring often. Turn down the heat, add the ginger and chili peppers.

Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, add the salt and sugar then sprinkle in the garam masala. Keep warm. 

For the tempering, strip the curry leaves off of the stems then heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add the red chili peppers, mustard seeds and curry leaves. 

Once the spices crackle, stir till dry and remove from the heat. 

Cut the cooled gnocchi into 36 squares. Lightly dust the gnocchi with a little more gram flour. I find using a small sieve for this most helpful. 

Drizzle a little oil into a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat then fry the gnocchi in batches, turning them until they are browned on all sides. 

Remove them to a pan in a warm oven, with a wire rack and paper towels to absorb any oil as you finish each batch. Keep warm. 

Divide the coconut spinach sauce between plates then top with the golden gnocchi and sprinkle with the tempered spice mix to serve.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes made with chickpea flour, also known as gram flour or besan. It’s commonly used in many Asian cuisines, predominantly in the subcontinent, for savory dishes and baking. According to Wikipedia, it contains a high proportion of carbohydrates as well as higher fiber and protein relative to other flours. It is naturally gluten free, making it a healthy choice for many. Check out all the recipe links below! Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu for hosting today and for this wonderful theme.

• Airfryer Banana Crisps by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Onion Pakoda/Bhajiyas by Sneha’s Recipe
• Spiced Chickpea Flour Gnocchi with Coconut Spinach Sauce by Food Lust People Love
• Tawa Bread Pakora by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Vegan Chickpea Tomato Omelette by Cook with Renu
• Zucchini Fritters by A Day in the Life on the Farm

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Spiced Chickpea Flour Gnocchi

 with Coconut Spinach Sauce!

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