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Recipe: Turkey and Leek Meatballs with Tomato Tagliatelle

May 7, 2013

Turkey Meatballs

We love meatballs! If you make your own at home, you know exactly what’s gone into them and you can add lots of lovely flavours, too.  They are easy to make and the kids love them.

These are really tasty, I used turkey mince (very lean and great value) and added leeks and freshly grated Grano Padano cheese for extra flavour to make turkey and leek meatballs. Serve with lots of tagliatelle pasta and tomato sauce and everyone is happy! If you wanted to, you could use an onion, but my kids prefer leeks. You can also add a teaspoon of mustard or even a tablespoon of ketchup for something a bit different.

Turkey Meatballs

I’m really pleased to be taking part in the Lean on Turkey recipe challenge, as we’re really keen to eat more turkey, instead of beef or pork and red meat. This time, the challenge was to create a pizza or pasta meal for the family for under £10.

The total cost of this meal was £9.91 from Ocado, but in fact, the turkey breast mince was on special offer (3 for £10) instead of £4.50 for one 500g packet so I was able to freeze a couple of packets for another time, too. Grano Padano cheese is a great alternative to the slightly more expensive Parmigiano Reggiano, which is worth keeping an eye out for as it brings the costs down a little.

Turkey Meatballs

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Costing   

  •  £1.99 – tomato and Basil Sauce
  • £1.75 –  fresh tagliatelle
  • £4.50 –  turkey breast mince (500g)
  • 60p –  large leek
  • 20p – large egg
  • 10p –  garlic (one clove)
  • 12p – bread (2 slices)
  • 65p -Grano Padano cheese (50g)
  • Olive oil, store cupboard
  • Salt and Pepper, store cupboard

£9.91 at Ocado

Turkey Meatballs

Sponsored Post + cost of ingredients covered

With many thanks to Lean On Turkey for asking me to create a recipe for them

Have you tried making your own meatballs at home? What’s your favourite family meal? Let me know if you try these!

Other family favourites

Easy Macaroni Cheese with Baby Leeks

Easy Peasy Homemade Pizza

Filed Under: Family Food, Healthy Eating, Meat/Poultry, Sponsored/Commissioned/Ad12 Comments

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About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. anna @ annamayeveryday.co.uk says

    May 8, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    These look fabulous, and the photographs are great. I often use turkey mince for meatballs, burgers etc but haven’t tried leek as an alternative to my regular onion. I will give it a go, great tip!

    Reply
    • Ren Behan says

      May 8, 2013 at 9:11 pm

      Thanks Anna – lovely of you to stop by and comment, hope you do try them

      Reply
  2. Louise@cakeandcalico.com says

    May 7, 2013 at 8:21 pm

    This looks delicious – I love making my own meatballs. I’ve never added leek though. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
    • Ren Behan says

      May 8, 2013 at 6:36 pm

      Thanks Louisa glad you liked the recipe x

      Reply
  3. olivia kirby says

    May 7, 2013 at 8:16 pm

    We have turkey mince a lot, we rarely use beef mince now, I find it expensive or fatty and the taste is not appreciated by our little ones. For us, £10 is too much for a family meal but we usually shop at Morrisons, their meat is very good and extremely reasonable and we would normally use a small pack/half a pack and make a bolognese, bulking it up with red lentils or even chickpeas. I am a massive tight wad but I want the kids to eat well too.
    This looks a delicious recipe, I think my eldest boy would enjoy cooking it too.

    Reply
    • Ren Behan says

      May 8, 2013 at 6:36 pm

      Hi Olivia, I should have added (and will do) that the budget was £10 so these were just under – plus the meat was 3 for £10 so I had extra to freeze. I agree that other supermarkets could be even more cost effective – I love Morrissons, too. Also turkey thigh meat is a great option and usually cheaper than breast mince. They’ll taste every bit as good, if not better! The lentils and chickpeas are a great addition to a mince. x

      Reply
  4. Hussy London Housewife says

    May 7, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    The detailed costing are so handy. Thank you Ren for a great recipe

    Reply
    • Ren Behan says

      May 8, 2013 at 6:34 pm

      Thank you so much – that’s good to know. I’ll try and do it more often

      Reply
  5. Dom says

    May 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    LOVE meatballs and have never made turkey ones so this is a lovely bit of inspiration and just that little bit lighter for a warm spring evening… gorgeous stuff!

    Reply
    • Ren Behan says

      May 8, 2013 at 6:34 pm

      Thank you Dom, yes, do try the leeks trick, lovely flavour.

      Reply
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