Turkey meatballs in tomato sauce

The last time I ate turkey was December 25th 2011. But today I unearthed a packet of turkey mince from the back of the freezer (which I am clearing to make space for the Christmas bounty I will be squirrelling away over the next few weeks). Keep an eye on here for cranberry sauce, roast potatoes, stuffings, bread sauce etc to freeze in advance of the big day.

Turkey - not just for Christmas

Nigella's Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (tweaked slightly)

For the sauce you will need:
1 onion
1 stick of celery
2 tablespoons garlic oil (I used ordinary olive)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

For the balls:
500g turkey mince
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery and onion (borrowed from the sauce... read on)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
half a teaspoon dried thyme

Put the onion and celery into a food processor and blitz it to a mush. Reserve 2 tablespoons of it for the balls. Fry the onion, celery and thyme in the oil over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then. Add the tomatoes, then fill each tin with water and add that too. Season with the sugar, salt and some pepper. Let it come to the boil, then simmer while you make the balls.

For the balls, mix everything - don't forget the celery and onion - together, add a generous pinch of salt and roll them into balls. Nigella suggests a heaped teaspoon of mixture per ball, which will make about 50. Drop them into the simmering sauce and cook for about 30 minutes or until done, depending on how big you have made them (mine were bigger and yielded about 30). We had them with Ainsley Harriott's couscous.