I was in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs, but I had no tomato sauce. This is a rare occurrence for me, you must understand, but I wasn’t going to let that stand in my way. What I did have was some ground turkey, pasta, and some vegetables. I can make this work.

Ingredients:

Meatballs-

1 lb Ground turkey 

Chopped mushrooms (1/2 cup) , scallions (1/3 cup) , and garlic (1 clove) 

1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1 egg 

red pepper flakes- to taste

Soy Sauce (about 2 tbsp for the meatballs)

Sprinkle of salt

Process- combine all of the ingredients and use your God-given mixers (your *washed* hands) to make sure everything is incorporated. Roll out the meatballs and place them on a sheet of foil or wax paper. I usually make these slightly bigger than a golf ball.

Coat the bottom of a large pan with vegetable oil and cook the meatballs… takes about 3-4 minutes per side depending on the size of the balls- just make sure they’re cooked all the way through.

Ingredients for Pasta:

Linguine (I made a half box for this recipe)

Chopped carrots, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Onions, Scallions, broccoli (about 1/3 cup each)

1 chopped clove garlic 

Soy Sauce (about 3 tbsp)

Hoisin Sauce

Peanut Butter (chunky)

Sriracha sauce

Vegetable oil

Cilantro (for Garnish)

Process:

Cook the linguine in salted water. While it cooks, begin to sauté your vegetables in a large saucepan that has been coated in vegetable oil. Once the vegetables begin to cook (look for slightly translucent onions), toss in the soy sauce. Add about a tbsp of hoisin sauce and a spoonful of peanut butter along with the amount of sriracha that would make you happy. At this point, I add in maybe 1/3 cup or so of the pasta water- it helps break down the peanut butter and helps make a creamy sauce. Once the pasta is al dente, throw it in with the sauce and veggies. Magical.

Place your lovely hand-crafted meatballs on top of your pasta and enjoy!