Thai Sesame Meatballs with Ground Turkey and Spicy Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

These deceptively decadent meatballs pack rich, bold flavor without the heaviness of typical beef meatballs with sauce. Ground turkey thigh meat is lean and juicy, and panko breadcrumbs are lighter and less dense than fresh, “wet” breadcrumbs.

For this recipe, I used pure sesame paste as a binder in place of egg. The paste not only helps hold the meat mixture together, but also adds the savory, nutty taste of sesame.

A simple side dish of stir-fried baby bok choy, mung bean sprouts, and peanuts cooked quickly in very little oil is a light, fresh accompaniment for the flavor-packed meatballs and sauce. The key is to keep the vegetables crunchy: high temperature, short time, done.

Note: The meatball mixture can be made one day ahead and refrigerated, covered, overnight. Form the meatballs and bring to room temperature before baking.   

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Meatballs and Sauce

• 1 lb ground turkey thigh
• 1/3 cup panko, or other fine, dry breadcrumbs
• 3 small garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided
• 2 Thai chiles, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsp pure sesame paste
• 3 tsp finely chopped ginger, divided
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp peanut oil

Ground Turkey Thigh 

Meatball Ingrdients

For the Vegetables

• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 4 stalks baby bok choy, coarsely chopped, leaves included
• 6 oz mung bean sprouts
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup shelled peanuts (salted or unsalted)

Mung Bean Sprouts and Baby Bok Choy 

Bok Choy Ready to Stir-Fry

Preparation

For the Meatballs and Sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a shallow baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Combine the ground turkey, panko, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, chiles, cilantro, sesame paste, 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger, and brown sugar in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix gently with your fingers and form into 12 balls (about 1-1/4 inch in diameter).

Meatball Mixture 

Meatballs Ready to Bake

1. Place the meatballs on the pan and bake until browned and cooked through, about 24 minutes, turning once halfway through.

Meatballs after 12 Minutes 

Baked Meatballs

1. Meanwhile, combine the honey, soy sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, sambal oelek, and sesame oil in a bowl, stirring until the honey dissolves.
2. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add the peanut oil. Add the remaining finely chopped garlic clove and remaining 1 teaspoon of finely chopped ginger. Sauté 2 minutes.
3. Add the honey mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. (Reheat gently over low heat if not using right away.)

Sweet and Sour Sauce Beginning to Cook

Spicy Sweet and Sour Sauce

To serve, mound the stir-fried vegetable mixture (recipe follows) in the middle of 4 shallow bowls. Set 3 meatballs on top of each and drizzle the sweet and sour sauce over all. Serve right away.

For the Vegetables

1. Heat a wok over high heat and add the peanut oil. Allow the oil to heat 15 seconds.
2. Add the bok choy and bean sprouts and season with salt and pepper. Stir-fry 3 minutes. Add the peanuts and toss with the vegetables. Serve right away.

Bok Choy and Bean Sprouts Beginning to Cook

Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Bean Sprouts with Peanuts

Pasta with Calamari and Sweet Peas in Garlicky Cream Sauce

"Calamari" means squid served as food. Its tubes and tentacles are mild, sweet, and delicious, whether paired with a sweet and spicy chile sauce or a creamy, garlicky sauce, as in this recipe. 

To cook squid properly, one of two methods is needed: hot and fast or low and slow. In other words, this seafood needs a quick sauté or a longer low-temperature braise to bring out its tenderness and best flavors. Otherwise, it can become tough and chewy.

Squid Bodies and Tentacles

Here, the calamari is sautéed only in olive oil with salt and pepper, complemented by green peas and a savory white sauce loaded with garlic and rich taste.

Note: I blended a small amount of provolone cheese into the sauce simply to add to its creaminess, with a little bit of mild cheese flavor. The provolone also helps to thicken the half-and-half, so heavy cream isn’t necessary to create a rich, creamy sauce.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 8 oz thin spaghetti (or other long pasta)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 cups half-and-half
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup shredded provolone cheese  
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb calamari, bodies cleaned and cut into rings, tentacles split or coarsely chopped
• 1 cup sweet peas (thawed, if frozen)

Squid Rings with Split Tentacles

Preparation

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water 6-7 minutes (or until al dente). Drain.
2. Heat a saucepan over medium-low heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook slowly, stirring frequently, 2 minutes.

Butter and Garlic Beginning to Cook

1. Whisk in the half-and-half and season with salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.
2. Stir in the cheese and reduce the heat to low. Cook slowly until melted and well blended, 2 minutes. Keep the sauce warm.

Garlicky Cream Sauce

1. Meanwhile, heat a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the calamari rings and tentacles and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until the seafood is tender and almost cooked through, 5-6 minutes.

Calamari Beginning to Cook

Cooked Calamari

1. Add the peas and cook 1 minute.
2. Add the drained pasta to the skillet and stir in the cream sauce. Stir well to combine.

Peas Added

Pasta and Sauce Added

Divide the pasta and sauce among 4 shallow bowls and serve right away.

Slow-Cooked Moroccan Chicken with Apricots and Olives

Traditional Moroccan meat-and-vegetable stews called “tagines” derive their name from the pot they’re cooked in—a large, earthenware, or clay, bowl with a tall, cone-shaped lid called a tagine. Whether you use an actual tagine or not, there are two keys to making a rich, delicious Moroccan-style stew: slow cooking and lots of spices and other aromatic ingredients.

Common spices include paprika, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, saffron, and coriander along with fragrant ginger, garlic, lemon, cilantro, and parsley. Dried fruits like raisins and apricots, as well as meaty green olives, also are found in tagines. For this recipe, I served the stew over basmati rice, but couscous or other grains are common too.

Spices for Chicken Marinade

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 4 large, whole chicken legs, cut into thighs and drumsticks, skin removed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots (Turkish, if available)
• 3/4 cup medium green olives, pitted and quartered lengthwise
• zest from 1 medium lemon, trimmed into very thin strips
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2-3 cups cooked basmati rice, for serving

Tagine Ingredients

Apricots, Olives, and Lemon Zest

Preparation

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Place the chicken pieces in the bowl and toss with the spice mixture to coat well. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours (or overnight). Bring to room temperature before proceeding.

Spice-Rubbed Chicken

1. Heat a Dutch oven (or large, ovenproof pot with a lid) over medium heat and add the olive oil. Season the marinated chicken with salt and pepper and place in the pot. Add the garlic, onion, and ginger and cook, occasionally turning and stirring, until the chicken is lightly browned on both sides, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth, apricots, olives, and lemon zest to the pot. Reduce the heat to low and cover tightly with a lid. Braise until the chicken is tender and juicy, about 1 hour, turning a few times during cooking.

Chicken Beginning to Cook 

Stew Beginning to Braise

1. Remove the stew from the heat and stir in the cilantro and parsley.

Slow-Cooked Moroccan Chicken with Apricots and Olives

To serve, divide the rice among 4 shallow bowls. Ladle the stew overtop the rice, including 2 chicken pieces per bowl. Serve hot. 

Fried Hake with Mustard Cream and Seared Vegetables

Hake, often sold as Cape Capensis in the United States, is a mild-tasting whitefish much like orange roughy, flounder, or sole, and it may be substituted for these other fish in just about any dish. For this recipe, be sure to choose thin filets that cook quickly and don’t have a very strong taste of their own—milder varieties complement the mustard cream instead of competing with it.

Hake Filets

While “fried” may be a bad word on some menus, the fish here is lightly breaded with panko and quickly seared in very little oil—so it’s not all that fried after all.

The sauce includes only three ingredients plus seasoning, but it packs a lot of flavor. I kept it lighter by using half-and-half instead of heavy cream. This results in a stronger mustard and lemon flavor—not a bad trade-off.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the Mustard Cream

• 1/3 cup half-and-half
• 2 tsp coarse-grain mustard
• 1/2 tsp finely chopped lemon zest
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Mustard Cream Ingredients

For the Fish and Vegetables

• 1 large egg white
• 3/4 cup panko or other fine, dry breadcrumbs
• 2 4- to 5-oz skinless hake filets, about 1/3 inch in thickest part
• 3 tbsp olive oil, divided (plus more as needed)
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 lb thin asparagus spears, cut into thirds crosswise, each third in half lengthwise
• 1 very small zucchini, halved, each half cut into matchsticks

Asparagus and Zucchini 

Zucchini and Asparagus Ready to Cook

Preparation

For the Mustard Cream

1. Whisk the half-and-half, mustard, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Pour into a saucepan and heat gently over low heat until barely simmering and slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and keep warm.

Mustard Cream

For the Fish and Vegetables

1. Whisk the egg white in a medium bowl and spread the panko on a plate.
2. Dip each filet in the egg white then press into the panko on both sides to coat completely. Season with salt and pepper.

Panko-Crusted Hake

1. Heat a heavy, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the hake and fry until golden on the outside and just cooked through, 2-3 minutes per side. (Drizzle with a little more oil if the skillet becomes too dry.)

Hake Beginning to Fry 

Fried Hake

1. Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the asparagus and zucchini and season with salt and pepper.
2. Saute the vegetables until just tender and beginning to sear, about 3 minutes.

Vegetables Beginning to Cook

Cooked Vegetables

To serve, divide the vegetable mixture between 2 plates. Top each with a filet and drizzle with about 2 tablespoons of mustard cream. Serve right away.