Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Smashed Chickpea Salad

Seamus and I have both been VERY busy this summer. Between our jobs, visitors, and gorgeous Seattle summer, we have barely had any time to just relax and spend time together in the kitchen. We both got home early from work tonight, so we thought it would be fun to try to make this meatball recipe together.

We stopped at the local fancy grocery store (Metro Mart) on our way home to look for Sumac spice, but unfortunately they didn't have it. I googled for substitutions, and decided to use a mixture of lemon rind and salt as a substitute in this dish.

Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Smashed Chickpea Salad

Courtesy of Deb Perelman in the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Ingredients

Meatballs
1 pound ground turkey
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
Olive oil to coat pan

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork, breaking up the clumps of meat until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Form turkey mixture into golf ball sized balls and arrange them on a tray. Wet hands help them from getting sticky.

Heat a generous slick of oil in a large ovenproof saute pan with a lid. Brown the meatballs in batches, being careful not to crowd the pan or nudge them before they are nicely browned. Transfer the meatballs to a paper towel lined tray and continue to brown all meatballs.

Discard the oil and wipe all but a thin layer from the pan. Return all of the meatballs to the pan, and transfer to preheated oven. Bake until a thermometer read an internal temperature of 160 to 165 degrees, or about 10-15 minutes.

Salad Ingredients

1 and 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
one handful of pitted, halved, and very thinly sliced green olives
1/2 teaspoon ground sumac, plus more for garnish
Chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon table salt
olive oil

Directions

Mix everything but the olive oil in a small to mid-sized bowl. Very lightly smash the chickpea mixture with the back of a fork. Dress the chickpea with a drizzle of olive oil and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste.