Greek Style Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper Marinara

I haven’t been posting on Adventures of an Ottawa Foodie a lot in the past few months. I have been focusing on my new blog Stu Tris and trying to get it up and running. Now that I am in a better schedule for updating it, I am going to get back to posting about food! 

With a lot of my time, money and energy dedicated to training for triathlons, I am not eating out as much as I used to. Now we try and cook dinner a lot more at home and use the healthiest ingredients we can.

This weekend I tried this recipe that I found on Triathlete.com. This recipe is has a lot of great flavours and gives the classic meatball a twist with some new flavours. This isn’t a quick recipe so I would recommend it as a weekend meal, or something to prepare in advanced. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Greek Style Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper Marinara

Ingredients

• Roasted Red Pepper Marinara
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 32 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 16oz jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 6 basil leaves, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper

 Greek Style Meatballs

• 20 oz lean ground turkey
• ½ yellow onion, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• ¼ cup whole-wheat breadcrumbs
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper 

Directions

Roasted Red Pepper Marinara

1. In a sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, salt and pepper, sauté for 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.
2. Add the tomatoes, roasted red peppers and basil. Stir to combine. Lower heat to low and simmer 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Let sauce cool slightly, then blend with an immersion blender until mostly smooth.

Greek Style Meatballs

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except the turkey, in a large bowl.
2. Gently fold in the turkey, to incorporate all of the ingredients.
3. Form meatballs and place in on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray.
4. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 45 minutes.
5. You can either serve the meatballs and sauce on pasta or bake the meatballs with 2/3 of the sauce for an additional 25 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!