It has been challenging but fun to pursue this Paleo diet.  And part of the fun comes from concocting recipes that fulfill the Paleo requirements which ALSO aren’t boring as hell to make and eat.

So the Mrs. went out yesterday and did some grocery shopping, and brought back ground turkey.  Turkey meatballs!  Not that I couldn’t eat regular beef meatballs, but I wanted to see what I could come up with.

These are not egg-free (I had to throw an egg in for binder, that’s how it goes) but they are gluten-free.

You’ll need:

1 pound ground turkey

Minced garlic in olive oil

white pepper

black pepper

1 egg

16-20 almonds, roasted, non-salted

some white wine for cooking — doesn’t really matter what as long as YOU like it.

Start by putting your turkey in a bowl.  Add the egg, as well as 1 tablespoon of the minced garlic.  You could add more, but this worked out fine for my tastes.  Add 1 tsp white pepper and 1 tsp black pepper.

Put your almonds in a food processor and process away!  Make sure they are thoroughly ground, although a small chunk or two is not going to kill you.  Add the ground almonds to the mixture.

Mix this all together and shape golf-ball sized meatballs.  You should have roughly 14 once you’re done, give or take a meatball.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan or saute pan and CAREFULLY put the meatballs in — you should just be able to fit them all if you’re using a 10″ or 12″ pan.  These are going to be a little fragile until you sear a couple of sides, so let them brown (WATCH YOUR HEAT!) and tend to them carefully.  Now is not the time to be on the phone or watch the kids.

Once they’ve browned on the outside, pour in about a cup of white wine and put a lid on the pan.  Let this go for about five minutes and check your liquid level.  You want to have a little liquid in the pan, versus there being nothing.  If your liquid runs low, add more wine (to your discretion) and put the lid back on for another five.  If you’re already out of wine because you drank the rest, add some water.

After the ten minutes of cooking, they should be cooked through.  Take one out and check it.  These won’t take long if the test meatball isn’t ready yet — give yourself another five minutes, covered, and then you should be done.