Honey Mustard Turkey Meatballs

This is one of my favourite comfort food meals. The parsley and the honey keep the meatballs light and fresh, perfect for the rich tomato sauce. Although there's quite a few steps, this is a relatively easy recipe for any confident child-chef! There's minimal chopping and everything is baked, just be careful when getting things in and out of the oven. There's also plenty of mashing and meatball shaping for my fellow Sticky Jam Hands out there who can't wait to get stuck in!

Makes 10 meatballs

INGREDIENTS:

Meatballs -

• 250g Turkey-mince

• 10g Parlsey, roughly chopped

• 1 tbsp Mustard

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 garlic glove, minced

• ½ red onion, diced

• 30g bread crumbs

• vegetable/sunflower oil

Sauce -

• 300g cherry tomatoes or medium tomatoes sliced

• 1 Tbsp balsamic (or ½ tbsp red wine vinegar + 1 tsp sugar)

• 1.5 tsp oregano

• ½ red onion, sliced

• 2 garlic cloves. minced

Pre-chopping

• Roughly chop the parsley (or rip it up with your hands!)

• Dice your red onion for the meatballs and slice the half for the sauce

Kit list

• Medium baking dish

• Mixing bowl

• Potato masher

• Tin foil

method:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180c

• Add all your sauce ingredients to a baking tray along with a pinch of salt & pepper and a glug of oil. Mix everything together so they’re all well coated with the oil and seasoning then roast for 30 minutes.

• Meanwhile, get to work on your meatballs. Put all of your meatball ingredients apart from the oil in a mixing bowl and use hands to smoosh everything together. If the mixture keeps falling apart, add a small glug of oil.

• Time to get messy! Use your hands to form meatballs about the size of a golf ball. Put all of these on a plate and once done, pop in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up.

• Once your sauce ingredients have roasted for 30 minutes and the tomatoes are all broken down, tip everything into a mixing bowl (mind you don’t singe your fingers!). Use a potato masher to mash everything up until its a chunky sauce. Season with more salt or oregano if you think it needs it, then set your sauce aside.

• Back to the meatballs! Put them all on the baking dish you used for the sauce and pop in the oven for 5 minutes, now flip them and bake for another 5. Then add your sauce to the baking dish, cover with foil and cook for another 10 minutes until your meatballs are firm and cooked through. It's easy to check whether they're done, just cut one in half.

• Enjoy! I usually have these with rice or as a stew with some pita.