I've picked up a few cookbook bundles from Humble Bundle over the years, but I haven't ended up using them much. To be fair, that's true of a lot of my hardcopy cookbooks as well. The problem is that -- between the Internet, the curry cookbook, and our collection of Cook's Country magazines -- I already have a massive pile of easy-to-access recipes that I haven't tried yet. So it can sometimes feel a bit awkward or difficult to pull things out of other books and sources.

But, I kind of wanted to mix things up a bit this week. So I decided to leaf through some of my Humble Bundle books. I started out looking for good sweet potato recipes, but then ended up branching out and just looking for anything that looked like a good way to use up ingredients on hand.

I knew I had some ground chicken in the freezer, so I figured I could do these meatballs over some pasta with some sort of salad on the side and call that dinner. My original plan had been to just serve them with spaghetti and maybe give the "French salad" from "The Cookbook" a try. But that was before I had a mix-up with the meal plan earlier in the week which left me with surplus radishes in the middle of the week. Thus, I swapped out the French salad for a celery and herb salad from one of the other Humble Bundle books. And then I ended up coming across half-off tortellini at the grocery store on Tuesday and figured no one would be sad if I swapped the plain spaghetti out for that. And, indeed, they weren't! (Although this change did mean that TF now needed a fist full of Lactaid to go with her meal, but it was still enjoyed by all.)

Despite the meal being a big success once I managed to get it to the table, I did experience a few issues during cooking. I don't know if my sauce was too thick or what, but the InstantPot just could not seem to get up to pressure. It steamed and rattled a bit, but never sealed. (And yes, I did check to make sure the valve was in the proper position.) Eventually it started beeping in distress and alerting me of a burn.

Luckily the burn didn't seem to be too severe; just a little light scortching at the bottom of the pot which I was able to scrape and stir in to no discernable detriment. And the meatballs seemed like they were pretty much cooked at that point, so I wasn't too worried. Just to be on the safe side, I put it on slow cook "high" for a bit while TF got a pot of water boiling and cooked the pasta.

As noted, the meal was still very good. I liked it a lot. But I am a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to cook it as directed. Maybe next time I'll try adding a bit more stock and see if that helps it to get up to pressure more easily. Barring that, I think that this would also work quite well as a "fast" slow cooker recipe provided you had the time to cook it for a few hours, rather than just a few minutes.

So, with that in mind, I have provided the recipe with the original cooking instructions here. Just be aware that they did not work as written for me. Keep an eye on your pot and if it seems to be having trouble sealing, turn it off and finish cooking your sauce by another method.

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Slightly adapted from Healthy Instant Pot by Alexis Mersel

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 c. dried breadcrumbs
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh Basil
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g ground turkey or chicken

Sauce

• 1/2 c. (or more?) chicken stock
• 1 (800mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 c. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. dried garlic
• 1 tsp. dried onion
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• up to 1 tsp. coarse sea salt¹
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2-4 Tbsp. olive oil²
• cooked pasta or spaghetti squash, to serve
• extra basil and Parmesan, to serve

Directions

Meatballs

1. Turn the InstantPot on to sauté "low" and add the oil.
2. Add the onion and cook for ~5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Turn off the instant pot and set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the egg, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, basil, pepper flakes, salt, pepper, chicken/turkey, and sauté mix and add well.
6. Shape mixture into small (2-3cm diameter) balls and set aside on a plate.

Sauce

1. Add the crushed tomato, tomato paste, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning (if using), pepper flakes, garlic, onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and oil to the Instant Pot and mix well.
2. Carefully drop the meatballs into the sauce and gently turn to coat.
3. Seal the lid and pressure cook "high" for 10 minutes followed by a 10-minute natural release.
4. When the sauce is done, toss it with freshly cooked pasta or spaghetti squash and top with additional Parmesan and basil.

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¹ You may not need the full amount of salt if using store-bought stock or broth. Taste your sauce before adding any salt -- or raw meat! -- and then add up to 1 tsp. of salt as needed. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 1/4 c. of oil to be added to the sauce, but I halved this amount to try to make it a bit healthier and cut the calories. However, it's possible that the lower fat content also contributed to the scortching. I think that the most likely culprit is the thikness of the sauce, but I can't completely rule out the oil as a factor. Just something to keep in mind... ^Back