Mambo Italiano

I came home from Greece to a broken refrigerator, and ended up not eating in my house all week. When we finally got a new one, we needed something cheap to offset our restaurant expenses, and decided on spaghetti and meatballs.

I don't think I've ever made meatballs myself before, but how hard can it be? We decided to make a healthy version, and picked up some ground lean turkey from Publix. I remembered the sage growing in my yard, and realized this would be the perfect dish for it.

I mixed 1lb. turkey with:
about 3 sprigs sage, finely chopped (probably came to a couple tablespoons)
fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
~1tsp red pepper flakes
splash worcestershire
1 egg
any other herbs you like... I added a little dried oregano

garden herbs

I rolled them into about 1" balls, rolled them in breadcrumbs and fried them in a little olive oil for a few minutes, and then finished them off in the oven.

We used whole wheat angel hair pasta, and doctored up a Publix-brand sauce with some fresh garlic, herbs and parmesan reggiano. This time, I remembered to add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to the sauce, which made a big difference. When the meatballs were done, I threw those in...

Not to toot my own horn, but these were some pretty awesome meatballs. Cheap and healthy too. I'm looking forward to playing around with this recipe.

Have you ever made homemade meatballs? Any secrets you want to share?
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p.s. The Greece post has been pending for a while now. I'm honestly having trouble putting my experience into words. Maybe I'll just post food pictures? I'm not sure. Thanks for being patient while I figure it out :)