Orecchiette with Turkey Sausage Meatballs and Ricotta

Take out the turkey meat first and let that hang out on the counter while you get everything out. This will take some of the chill off of the meat.

Have all of your ingredients ready and out of your pantry so you’re not fumbling around with mushy turkey meat hands.

Get a nice big pot of water up to a boil. Don’t get a tiny “easier to clean later” sized pot, get one that offers your pasta some room to swim. Don’t salt your water yet. Wait until just before you drop the pasta. Salting your pot when it hasn’t come up to a boil could damage it.

Get out your sauce (homemade or otherwise) and dump it into a pan with high sides. Turn it on low.

Start chopping and dicing. Get everything situated on your cutting board so you’re ready to mix.

In a large bowl mix the meat, bread crumbs, egg, basil, parsley, red pepper, garlic, whole milk, salt and pepper gently. You can omit the milk if you want (or don’t have any), but it will just bump up the moisture level. Don’t over mix, or you’ll end up with tough meatballs. Form into whatever size meatballs tickle your fancy. I like them a little on the larger side. They look prettier that way. I usually get between 6-8 meatballs.

Time to get your meatballs into the sauce. This is kind of one of those, you could brown them first, or just dump them in with the sauce to cook through. I prefer letting them cook in the sauce rather than browning them first. I don’t like crunch when it comes to meatballs. Some people do, some people don’t. For today, straight into the sauce.

Gently nestle them in the sauce. Cover, turn up the heat to medium and let them simmer away. They should take about 12 – 15 minutes. They can certainly hang out in there longer though.

While the meatballs are doing their thing, start thinking about the pasta. Drop a nice handful of salt into your boiling water. Short cut pasta usually takes about 9 minutes to cook. Check the directions on the box though. There’s nothing worse than mushy pasta. Let the goal be al dente. Leave a little bite to the pasta.

When your pasta is done, drain it. Time to plate your masterpiece. Put some pasta on each plate. I like more sauce to pasta ratio, my husband does not. Again, he’s wrong, I’m right. Get some meatballs on there, a nice dollop of ricotta and some fresh basil. The ricotta, once stirred in, gives the pasta a creaminess I find to be heavenly. If you’re watching your waistline, you can omit it.

Enjoy your sausage meatballs!