Healthy Turkey Meatballs

4 serves 

For the sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

2 carrots finely diced

2 celery sticks, finely diced

2 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb halved and thinly sliced, fronds reserved

16 ounces tomato puree

2 tbsp chopped parsley

broccoli and potatoes or pasta and salad to serve

For the meatballs

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground lean turkey breast

4 tbsp oats

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1 garlic clove, crushed

1.    Heat the oil in a large sauté pan with a lid, then add in the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and fennel, and stir well. Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat for 8 mins, stirring every now and then. Pour in the puree and season well with salt and pepper. Cover and leave to simmer for 20 mins.

2.    Meanwhile, put the ground turkey into a large bowl. Add the oats, fennel seeds and leaves, the garlic and plenty of black pepper, and mix in with your hands. Lightly shape into 25 meatballs about the size of a walnut. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and gently cook the meatballs until they take on a little color. Give the sauce a stir, then add the meatballs and parsley. Cover and cook for 10 mins until they are cooked through and the veg in the sauce is tender. Serve with broccoli and baby potatoes in their skins, or whole grain pasta and salad.