Jambalaya Balls!

Oh, I love a good meatball and these guys have the best cookbook - I highly recommend it. The best thing about all their recipes is that you bake the balls instead of frying - revelation! So much easier. I adapted their recipe and fell in love. Since they already had rice in them I decided to serve with my succotash that I had frozen without the cream - warmed up with a little splash of cream it was a perfect meal.

Jambalaya Balls makes about 40

couple tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion finely chopped

1 stalk celery finely chopped

1 and 1/2 red bell peppers chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon cajun spices (I use Paul Prudhomme)

1 pound ground pork

1 pound ground turkey breast (if you like dark go for it)

1/2 pound andouille sausage diced

1/2 pound raw shrimp chopped

2 cups cooked white rice

2 eggs

1/4 cup panko

Heat oven to 450 degrees and drizzle a couple tablespoons olive oil into a large glass pyrex. In a big pan sauté the onions, celery and peppers until soft - about 5 min then throw in the garlic. When you can smell it add in the tomato paste, spices and about 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool for about 15 min. In a large bowl place the pork, turkey, sausage, shrimp, rice, eggs, panko and the sautéed veggies. Lightly mix with your hands and form into round balls about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter. Place in the dish lining them up snugly next to each other - I didn't fit them all in one pan and had to use a second smaller one. Bake for about 17 min or until temp reads 165 degrees on a thermometer, let cool about 5 min in pan and then serve. I think smaller ones (baked for less time) would make a fun little appetizer served with toothpicks and a dash of hot sauce!