Description
Lean turkey meatballs go so well with a summer fresh zucchini pesto sauce and tender pasta! It’s amazing for an easy, seasonal meal.
Ingredients
- FOR THE MEATBALLS:
- 1 cup Day Old Italian Or Ciabatta Bread
- Milk As Needed
- 1 pound Ground Turkey
- 1 whole Egg
- 3 whole Bay Leaves, Coarsely Chopped
- ½ teaspoons Dried Parsley
- ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- ½ teaspoons Dried Onion
- 1 pinch Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- FOR THE PESTO PASTA
- 2 whole Large Zucchini, Diced
- 1 dash Olive Oil, For Roasting
- 1 pinch Salt, For Roasting
- 1 pinch Freshly Cracked Black Pepper, For Roasting
- ½ cups Pine Nuts
- ½ cups Fresh Basil
- 3 cloves Garlic
- ¼ cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
- ¼ teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- ¼ teaspoons Dried Onion
- 1 pinch Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- ¼ cups Olive Oil
- 1 pound Fusilli Pasta
Preparation
First, make the meatballs. Preheat oven to 400ºF and line a baking sheet with foil, a silicone mat or parchment paper. If foil, lightly spray it with cooking spray. Take the bread and put it in a bowl. Pour enough milk into the bowl with it to submerge it. Let the bread sit and soak up the milk for 10–15 minutes. Then combine it in a bowl with the ground turkey, egg, basil, parsley, garlic powder, seasoned salt, dried onion and cracked black pepper. Bring it together into a uniform mixture with clean hands, then form them into firm meatballs the size of your palm. Lay them out on the sheet tray and bake them for 20–25 minutes.
Meanwhile, get a large pot of water on the stove to boil for the pasta. Salt it generously. Then start on the sauce. Transfer the chopped zucchini to a baking dish and drizzle with it lots of olive oil. Also sprinkle it generously with salt and pepper, then roast it in the hot oven with the meatballs for 10 minutes. Take it out and let it cool for a couple of minutes, and set up a food processor. Pour the zucchini, pine nuts, basil, garlic, parmesan, salt, dried onion, black pepper and olive oil in the bowl of the processor and run it until you have a smooth, gorgeous pesto sauce. Set it aside.
Boil the pasta according to the directions, usually for about 8 minutes. When it is done, reserve 2 tablespoons of the starchy cooking water before you drain it. Then pour the pasta back into the pot with the pesto sauce and reserved water. The meatballs should also be done at this point, so toss them in the pot as well. Mix it all together thoroughly, then serve it immediately in pretty pasta bowls!
