As much as I love cooking, weeknight dinner time can be challenging when balancing an active schedule with two teenagers. While physically carving out the time to execute a healthy’ish and quick meal can be a hurdle, it’s also finding the inspiration to serve something that appeals to everyone’s palates. So, I lean into the flavors that my whole family embraces and those become my muse and, in this case, it was tarragon, Dijon mustard and lemon. These French tarragon meatballs served over a bed of rice were a huge hit!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 5 oz pancetta
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 5 Tbsp freshly chopped tarragon
• ½ cup panko crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp salt, divided
• 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup ½ & ½   or heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• Parsley (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in pan. Sauté pancetta and once browned, add shallot.
3. Once shallot becomes translucent after a few minutes, add garlic. Remove from heat once garlic becomes fragrant, no more than 2 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, add pancetta mixture to ground turkey, then add egg, panko crumbs, 4 Tbsp tarragon, zest of 1 lemon, 1 tsp salt and pepper. Mix together and form into 1”-2” balls.
5. Add to pan and cook in remaining pancetta oil and cook on all sides, just until browned. Transfer meatballs to parchment lined sheet pan and bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until thoroughly cooked. The smaller the meatball, the less time it will take to cook. Beginning checking temperature after 15 minutes and full length of cook time will depend on how long the meatballs were cooked on the stovetop. I recommend using a meat thermometer and the internal temperature should reach 165 degrees F.
6. While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. Add butter to the same pan and sauté 1 diced shallot, until translucent.
7. Stir in the wine and scrape up any baked bits from the meatballs. Cook until the wine is reduced by half.
8. Whisk in the remaining 1 Tbsp tarragon, mustard, zest of 1 lemon, and chicken stock. Once blended, slowly whisk in the cream.
9. Add 1 tsp salt, and pepper to taste.
10. To thicken the sauce, in a small bowl combine equal parts cornstarch and cold water – 1 Tbsp of each. Mix until well blended and add it to the sauce and stir in until it thickens.
11. Salt and pepper to taste.
12. Place the meatballs in the sauce until lightly coated.

To serve, cook rice according to the package instructions. Serve meatballs over top of the rice and sprinkle with parsley.