The recipe was given to me by my husband. I like it. If you’d like, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream (not to the blender, just on top).
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¾ cup fresh bread crumbs
- ½ cup finely diced onion
- 3 tablespoons chopped, toasted pine nuts
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (16 ounce) package ziti pasta
- 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 cup grated Romano cheese
- 6 cups tomato sauce
- 1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together turkey, garlic, bread crumbs, onion, pine nuts, parsley, egg, salt and pepper. Form into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter.
- In a large heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Cook half of meatballs, shaking skillet, until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer meatballs to paper towels to drain. Brown remaining meatballs in remaining 2 tablespoons oil in same manner.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Oil a 3 to 4 quart gratin dish.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook until just al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain.
- In a small bowl, toss together mozzarella and Romano cheese.
- Spoon about 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce and half the meatballs into prepared dish, and spoon half the pasta on top. Spread half remaining sauce and half cheese mixture over pasta. Top with remaining meatballs, and drop dollops of ricotta over meatballs. Spread remaining pasta over ricotta, and top with remaining sauce and cheese mixture. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 691 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 66 g |
| Cholesterol | 122 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1795 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 30 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I managed to mess up on the instructions- I ended up following the ricotta cheese on top of the pasta layer then covered it with cheese. The star rating is not a reflection of my mistake (I did use the ingredients) but the pine nuts were a bit unusual in the meatballs. Good recipe but a bit time consuming.
I was looking for a simple pasta recipe to use what I already had in the pantry and this was perfect! The meatballs were super tasty and tender and my brother and I devoured our huge portions. I did without the ricotta and the parsley because I didn’t have those items. I used about a jar and a half of pasta sauce. Turned out great with enough left over for today’s breakfast 🙂
I made only the meatballs to go with pasta primavera. I made as is, except added 1/4 cup of finely shredded asiago cheese. They were very good, but were missing a little bit of zip …
We made just the meatballs and they were delicious, but didn’t have pine nuts on hand. I’ll make the whole recipe soon. Can’t wait!
Quickly and easily feed masses of guests with this wonderfully simple recipe.
I did not care for this recipe. Meatballs came out dry. Using jarred sauce is ok but I use fresh mozzarella and I use whole milk riccota. I have found many other recipes and this isn’t worthy of a better rating than a 1.
This was alright. The nuts gave it an odd flavor, and there was something lacking in the cheeses. My husband especially requested that I never make it again.
This was great! I love these little meatballs. We enjoyed it without the ricotta.
I loved the pine nuts in the meatballs – I’m adding them to my recipe! I baked the meatballs at 450 (instead of frying)while the ziti cooked. I didn’t have enough tomato sauce, so make sure you have plenty before starting. I also didn’t have any mozzarella, so I didn’t bother to bake the dish — just combined the ziti, meatballs, sauce and ricotta, then served. It went over really well despite the changes. Thanks!
I enjoyed this recipe but I did almost everything differently. I used it more for inspiration. I did not have turkey so I used chicken for the meatballs. I did not have tomato sauce so I used rose sauce and threw in some fresh tomatoes. I did not have ricotta so I whipped half a cup of sour cream with half a cup of cream cheese. I did not have Ziti so I used radiatore. Other than that I followed the instructions:) The meatballs were tender and it was very creamy. The creamy sauce really cut dow on the acidity of the tomatoes. The meatballs were great. Thanks for the inspiration!