There's a first time for everything.

dreamdaisy

I've reached the grand old age of 58 without making breadcrumbs - or rather not deliberately making breadcrumbs (any fool can drop them when eating a slice of crusty, fresh, lovely bread as The Spouse frequently proves). Today I put some aged bread in the whizzy thing, reduced it to what I thought was the right consistency and added some to the turkey mince: I am doing meatballs for dinner and trying turkey to make a change from beef. I am so pleased I did this because turkey mince seems to be more 'smeary' than beef so may well need this extra glue. I managed to get 16 from 400gs of mince and they are currently sitting in the fridge to firm. The sauce is gently coming to the simmer on the hob, then I'll fry on the balls and put the lot in a Pyrex dish to fester in the oven until he gets in. In case anyone is interested here comes DD's foolproof pasta sauce (suits all meats and all occasions). This makes enough for two.

Slice the remaining half of onion (the half which wasn't blitzed to go into the meatballs).
Add one clove of crushed garlic if desired. Fry these gently then add one tin (or box) of chopped tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil, oregano and fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning, a squirt of tomato puree and around 1/4 pint of water. Gently bring to the boil then taste - it may need some honey or sugar for sweetness, then simmer for around 30 minutes. DD

Turbogran

sounds nice DD hope you enjoyed it.

GraceB

Sounds lovely! Shame you're not local to me - had you been local you could have found yourself with a gate-crasher at your meal.

Hope you enjoyed it and that Mr DD appreciated all your efforts.

GraceB

dreamdaisy

It went down very well indeed! I far preferred the turkey to the usual beef mince and the difference in textures was surprising. The turkey was much more 'claggy' even before the beaten egg was added but, for once, the balls didn't break up when being fried on. I am ashamed that I've never bothered before with breadcrumbs but a good cook once told me they were not necessary with beef. I saw the turkey recipe in the papers over the weekend and thought it was worth trying.

Truth be told I don't enjoy cooking but overall I don't do too badly. My mum didn't like cooking, she once told me that she ensured we had something different every night - which I clearly remember - and I hold to that. She always cooked from fresh and so do I apart from pies (bought from the local butcher) and fish fingers. The sauce is a basic recipe and can be tweaked with other herbs and or chillies to taste. DD

PS Grace? If you ever come towards Suffolk let me know, you will be more than welcome!