This recipe came about after Christmas this year while sailing down the east coast of Australia. My son, Jedd, started it by saying he would make a turkey and camembert crumbed meatball. Dwayne then piped up that he was going to make a crumbed meatball also. It soon became known as the “crumbed-ball-off”. All three of us were going to make a crumbed meatball and pick the best one. The winner was not going to have to cook for a week.

The “crumbed-ball-off” never happened as Jedd flew back to Adelaide sooner than expected. However, since I had lots of leftover Camembert cheese and cranberry sauce, I decided to do Jedd’s crumbed turkey balls. This is the recipe I came up with. We enjoyed it as a meal for dinner, but I also think it would be great finger food!

For the Turkey Balls

1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon of white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh sage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 spring onion finely sliced
1 1/2 cups fine bread crumbs
100g Camembert cheese
Oil for deep frying

Mix the turkey mince, white pepper, sage, garlic salt and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. Cube the cheese – about 1cm. Depending on the size you want.

Take a spoon full of mince, place it on your palm and flatten it into a flat round shape. Place a piece of camembert in the centre and shape the mince around it. Roll into a smooth ball. Coat with bread crumbs.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.  In the meantime make the cranberry sauce.

For the Cranberry Red Wine Sauce

1  clove of garlic, very finely chopped
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup cranberry sauce (I used Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp fresh sage, very finely chopped

In a small saucepan lightly sauté the garlic, add the red wine and cook to reduce it by half. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half again. Add the cranberry sauce and cook for a while until it thickens slightly and has reduced a little more. I will thicken more as it cools.

Cook the turkey balls

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a saucepan, and heat oil to 190c. When the oil is at the correct temperature, add the balls in batches. Fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove the turkey balls from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Bon appétit

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