Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Chickpea Salad
 
 
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Meatballs:
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • ⅔ cup fresh bread crumbs (see notes*)
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
Chickpea salad:
  • 1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • ½ cup pitted green olives, thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon ground sumac
  • chopped fresh parsley (see notes**)
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • olive oil
Instructions
Make the meatballs:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Combine all the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with your hands. Form into 1½" balls and arrange on a baking sheet lightly greased with olive oil or cooking spray.
  3. Bake meatballs for 20 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through. Turn the broiler on and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until meatballs are browned. Serve with chickpea salad.
Make the salad:
  1. Combine all the salad ingredients except the olive oil in a medium bowl. Very lightly smash the chickpeas with a potato masher or fork, leaving small bits. Drizzle with olive oil and stir to combine.
Notes
*To make fresh bread crumbs, place a few bread chunks in a food processor and pulse to the desired crumb size. You can use almost any kind of bread; I usually have random pieces of bread in the freezer that I defrost, toast and cool before pulsing.
**I used fresh tarragon since that's what I had on hand.
Recipe by Two of a Kind at http://www.twoofakindcooks.com/sesame-spiced-turkey-meatballs-chickpea-salad/