Turkey Meatballs

I have never made meatballs before and for some reason had a burning desire to venture into meatball land. So I did a little research and finally found a recipe that I thought sounded good and that was fairly strait forward. It is a recipe from Giada De Laurentis off of Food Network, love her. Anyway here is the recipe for meatballs and her sauce. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

1 small onion, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
3 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano (I didn't have this so I just doubled the Parmesan)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground dark turkey meat (I used ground turkey breast)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Simple Tomato Sauce, recipe follows, or store-bought marinara sauce

Directions

Add the onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, Pecorino, salt and pepper to a large bowl and blend. Mix in the turkey. Shape the turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a large plate or baking sheet.
Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and saute until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Transfer the meatballs to a plate. Pour off any excess oil. Add to marinara sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly and the flavors blend, 15 to 20 minutes. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Simple Tomato Sauce:

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 t sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
4 to 6 basil leaves (I used dried)
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme
2 dried bay leaves

In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. Optional{Add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.} I liked mine just how it was without smoothing it out.