Turkey meatballs for salinophiles, Tunisian style

Salinophiles are bacteria that thrive in salty environments.  The term is generally not used for primates but is an apt description of my immediate family.  If she ate sauerkraut, my wife Amy would salt it, before tasting.  Maya uses incredible amounts of salt.  When she was young and on the white diet, she put so much salt on her pasta (nothing else could go on it other than air) that it was inedible to anyone else, except her mother.  Harry and I are somewhat more moderate, but can still salt with the best of them.  We take our salt really seriously.  We consider our discovery of Maldon salt a number of years ago to be a life changing event.  There was a box left in the kitchen of our Cape Cod rental by the previous occupants, and it opened our eyes and our palates.  If you have never tried Maldon, it is worth every penny -- the pyramidal structure of the salt flakes gives an incomparable texture and flavor to food, and it has become our table salt of choice. 

I really increased my salt consumption when I lost weight about eight years ago.  I found that I needed to increase the salt and spicing of my foods to compensate for the decrease in fat.  This had some unforeseen consequences. Depending on what I ate the night before, I would sometimes wake up in the morning feeling like a schmaltz herring or a piece of belly lox (not nova).  This led me to occasionally put sugar in my coffee to counter the lingering salinity.

As much as I like salt, that is how much I dislike turkey.  I of course eat it on Thanksgiving, and when I am served it on other peoples' homes, and I will even prepare a turkey dish once in a blue moon for reasons of economy and health.  As much as I dislike turkey, I dislike turkey burgers even more.  Dried ground-up bird on a bun?  What could be less appetizing?  I also prefer textured vegetable protein to turkey in chili.  However, as I increased my observance of kashrut,  I found that ground turkey was just about the most economical meat available. I started to turn around when we were once served it in fesenjean, a Persian sauce based on walnuts and pomegranate juice, and found that it was not bad at all.  I experimented a bit and found that if you seasoned the ground turkey well (do not use the ground white meat, it is far too dry), and if the occasion called for it put in some egg, parsley and bread crumb, and then browned it before stewing, the results were edible.  More than. Best of all is a newer variation (from March 2012) to which I add some grated tofu.   I have some other turkey meat ball recipes that I will share in the future, but wanted to post this one first, since it is a dish that I have been meaning to try for over 30 years and finally got around to it last night.

This recipe is adapted from a Tunisian spiced ground beef with pickled vegetables that appears in both the 1977 and 1994 editions of Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Cooking, which otherwise differ substantially. The later edition includes more recipes, especially from Tunisia and Turkey, but the earlier one is noticeably less fussy.  I substituted ground turkey for the beef (you can use beef in my version as well as lamb), browned it before stewing and changed the sauce.  This dish is cheap, fast and easy (by my standards), and tasty, but given the pickled vegetables, olives and capers, you need to like you food salty to enjoy it:

Turkey meatballs, Tunisian style

1. Take one pound of ground turkey (I use Empire) and put it in a bowl.  Add 3 cloves garlic smashed to a puree with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 15 turns of the pepper mill, and 1 teaspoon each of powdered spearmint,  ground coriander, ground caraway and Aleppo pepper. (The caraway, coriander and mint are a surprisingly winning combo.)  Mix the seasonings in by hand.  It may be gross, but it is the only way to do it.  Did I say wet your hands?  Wet your hands, otherwise most of the turkey will be between your fingers rather than in the bowl.
2. Cleaning and wetting your hands again, form into small meatballs, about 16-20, and brown in a 1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil on high in a large nonstick skillet, turning the meatballs every few minutes to brown on several sides.  
3. Leave the meatballs in the skillet, but push them over to the cooler side, and add 1 finely chopped medium onion, about five or six sliced scallions, the white with some green, and saute until soft on medium.  Add 3-5 cloves sliced garlic and saute for another two minutes.
4. Add a 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes, 1 tablespoon rinsed capers, 1/2 cup pitted olives (green, black or a mix,  just don't use canned ripe olives), and a cup of mixed pickled Mediterranean vegetables. (I used Galil, which sells enormous tubs of the stuff for $3.  It is mostly cauliflower, carrots and peppers, but has a nice kick and a coriander flavor that complements the meatball seasoning.  Other brands are also available, usually with Greek or Italian foods.) It also wouldn't hurt to throw in half a preserved lemon rind, rinsed and shredded. Add a tablespoon of sweet paprika, 15-20 more turns of the pepper mill, a small handful of chopped parsley and a cup of boiling water.
5. Bring to the boil, turn heat down to medium, and simmer vigorously uncovered for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.   Most of the water should evaporate and the sauce will thicken.  Add some more parsley when it is done.
6. Serves 4 for dinner with rice, couscous of pasta. For a nice couscous recipe, see end of my chicken tagine posting.

Variation with tofu: You can stretch the turkey by adding some tofu to the meat mixture.   This comes from a Japanese trick -- tofu and chicken patties.  The tofu not only counters the birdiness of the mixture, it also makes the meatballs much moister.  Take 1/2 pound extra firm tofu, wrap it in paper towl, put it on a board or dish and weight it down.  A pot filled with water works great.  Since it will give off a lot of liquid, it is a good idea to put the dish with the tofu in a larger pan.  Grate the tofu on the large holes of a box grater and mix it into the turkey.  this way the recipe will serve 4 or 6 people, or just leave you leftovers for lunch.

Pulled Barbeque, Farkashert

The Jewish prohibition on pork goes deep.  This is not to say that there are no fans of the meat amongst the tribe.  But archeological excavations in ancient Canaan turned up pork bones in all settlements except for those of the Israelites. (For an interesting take on the Jewish taboo on pork and its possible origins, see this Smell Test by Shmarya Rosenberg in Tablet Magazine, where he discusses some insights inspired by Christopher Hitchens.  Don't read this near meal time.)  However, pork has numerous distinctive characteristics that make it a wonderful cooking medium -- witness the spread of pork belly to almost every high-end menu in the civilitzed world.  There is discussion in the tradition about whether pork is prohibted because it is disgusting or because it is delicious and the prohibition tests the faithful.  I definitely hold with the latter.

Pork is ultimately irreplaceable, but Jews have tried for centuries to substitute.  The most noble efforts were those of the Jews of Germany, represented in the US by the late and much lamented Bloch und Falk which made kosher cold cuts that tasted like treyfe cold cuts but out of veal, goose and who knows what.  In many recipes on this blog, I substitute vegetarian or turkey sausage for pork products.  However, it is more difficult to substitute for uncured fresh port.

A few years ago on Christmas day we went to a Kosher Gospel concert and brunch featuring Joshua Nelson. At the brunch, they served a creditable pulled barbeque made out of chicken thighs. This was in a spicy tomato sauce, and a classic pulled pork would be much less saucy. But, given the substitution of the main ingredient it is more than not made.  I have been playing around with this dish for a few years and found that a spice rub of vinegar, garlic, and smoky chili and paprika worked well in a home oven. Although I started making it with chicken, I have recently switched to turkey.  Although I prefer the taste of chicken in general, it makes no difference in this dish and the turkey is far easier, since  instead of needing two to three thighs to serve each person, one turkey thigh serves two to three. 

The following recipe serves 4 generously.  It can be multiplied -- I have made it with up to 10 thighs. It is mildly spicy, so increase the quantity of chitpotle chili if you want it spicier, though this is not always a great idea if you are serving a crowd.

Pulled Turkey Barbeque

Ingredients

• 2 turkey thighs, about 1 pound each

  Marinade

•  8 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 teaspoon chitpotle powder
• 2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
• 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
• 1 tablespoon  mustard
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

  Remaining ingredients

• 8-10 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, quartered and sliced
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, quartered and sliced
• 1/4 sweet green pepper, sliced
• 1 jalapeno chili , quartered and sliced (optional, and remove seeds and ribs if you want it milder)
• 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce (from a can is fine)
• 2 tablespoons smokey barbecue sauce (any good commercial sauce is fine)

 Method

1. Drop the garlic cloves for the marinade into a food processor or blender with the motor running to chop finely.
2. Add remaining marinade ingredients and process to have a smooth paste.  Add a bit more vinegar or water if you need to.
3. Rub the marinade into the thighs and set aside in the refridgerator for a day or two.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
5. Flatten 8 of remaining garlic cloves and slip under the turkey skin.  Put the thighs in a roasting pan in which they will fit rather snugly, and roast until tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes.  Particularly if the pan is large, the fat may begin to smoke, so after a half hour, pour some boiling water into the pan so that it doesn't.
6. Meanwhile, saute the peppers and onions on medium high in the oil in a nonstick skillet until soft and just beginning to brown.
7. Add the garlic, saute another minute, and then turn heat down to medium low and add the paprika. Saute another minute or so.
8. Add the tomato sauce and barbeque sauce, bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer about 5 minutes.  Set aside until the turkey is done.
9. Check the turkey to see if it is tender and the meat pulls easily from the bones. Otherwise, cook about 10 minutes longer.  Remove from the oven and set aside for about 10-15 minutes until cool enough to handle.  Removed the skin, scrape off the garlic cloves, mash them and mix into the sauce.  Set the skin aside for other uses. (See below)
10. Pour off the juices from the turkey roasting pan and skim off the fat.  The easiest way to do this is to pour them into a Pyrex measuring cup and put it in the refrigerator or freezer until the fat rises to the top and can be removed more easily with a spoon.  If you can wait long enough, it will solidify. Discard the fat.  Unlike other rendered poultry fats, turkey fat is of little gastromic interest.   Add the juices to the sauce.
11. Deglaze the turkey pan.  If it is heatproof, add a little water to it and bring to the boil, scrapping up the juices that have stuck to the pan.  (If the dish is not heatproof, you can do this in the microwave.)
12. Shred the turkey.  This is ideally done by hand, which I consider to be kind of fun.  Cut the meat off the bones with a knife, which will allow it to cool more rapidly.  Separate it according to the musculature, and then pull the meat into long shreds with the grain.  As an alternative, you can hold the thighs down with a  fork, and to shred off the meat with another fork.  It works best it you use large sturdy serving forks here.   Don't be tempted to just cut it with a knife.  Proper shredding is one of the keys to success. 
13. Add the turkey to the sauce, and reheat either on top of the stove, or in an ovenproof serving dish.  You can either heat it on 350, or go for the long haul and leave it in a slow oven.  One of the beauty of poultry thighs is that their flesh stays moist long after the point where breasts would be like so much sawdust. 
14. Serves 4 generously.  Goes well with coleslaw, cornbread (I may post a pareve corn bread recipe soon) or garlic bread, and baked beans.  Serve with a variety of hot sauces. It can also be served on Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns as a sandwhich. 

What to do with the turkey skin?  Just eat it.  It will come out of the oven crisp, spicy and wonderul, but it won't be so appetizing for long.  So, after you scrape off the garlic for the sauce, eat as many skins as you want while they are still warm and crisp, and share the rest with people who you like if they are around.