Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Sage Meatballs

These are not stuffing for a turkey, but instead, they are large turkey meatballs with the flavours of stuffing added. Sometimes I get a hankering for the flavours of a turkey dinner, but do not want to make a gigantic dinner. These meatballs include all those flavours in a neat little package and have become a favourite of ours. The recipe makes 14 balls. I freeze the extra ones uncooked without the bacon attached. When I want to make them, I just thaw them, wrap them in bacon and cook as normal. I first served these at Christmas as a side to the ham (not wanting to entirely give up having turkey). They are nice served with gravy made with turkey stock or chicken stock. And mashed potatoes…

500 g ground turkey
5 pork breakfast sausages, removed from casings
1 leek, finely sliced
3 celery sticks
2 onions, minced
1 egg
fresh sage leaves, 20g
a sprig of fresh thyme, leaves only
2 cups of dried breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt
a few good grinds of pepper
14 slices of well smoked bacon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sauté the onions, celery and leeks in a pan until they are soft. Let cool. Mix with everything else, except the bacon, and form into 14 balls. Wrap bacon around each ball and secure with a toothpick. Cover them with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 30-35 minutes.