Hi everyone! I am trying to get back into the swing of things. It was great having a week off, but it did feel kind of weird not blogging. Cooking and not taking pictures of it? Weird. But truthfully, I only cooked once when I was down in California. My mom cooked for me. Love it.
The one time I did cook, I made spaghetti and meatballs for my bestie, Jennifer, and her family. I used a recipe that I love from Tyler Florence. The meatballs are made of beef and pork, and they are fried. Crazy good. If you are looking for a “go to” recipe for spaghetti and meatballs, use that one. If you are looking for a meatball recipe that won’t make you gain 50 pounds and get angina, use the one I am about to give you.
After eating the fatty balls, I decided I wanted to come up with a recipe for lighter, healthier meatballs. I used ground chicken, tons of herbs, and I served mine as sliders instead of with spaghetti. I always feel better about myself when I eat tiny food. I know it makes no sense, but I just feel that sliders are lighter than a big ‘ol plate of spaghetti. Of course, when you eat 30 sliders, that all goes out the window;)
And yes, everytime I type "balls", I giggle.
I think you will like this recipe. I, of course, feel like I killed it. These sliders rocked. The chicken stayed moist, which is tough with breast meat, and the flavor was anything but “diet” tasting. Let me show you how I did it.
Here are the ingredients:
3 slices hearty white bread, like sourdough
¾ cup milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1& 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 heaping tablespoon chives, chopped
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound ground chicken breast
1 egg
½ cup parmesan cheese
The first step is to soak the bread in milk. This is what will keep the meatballs moist. I hate that word (moist) but, unfortunately, nothing else describes it.
Like I said above, chicken breast can be dry. You need to add a few secret ingredients to keep them from being like chalk. The milk soaked bread is the most important on this list.
I let the bread sit for about 10 minutes.
I push down my bread to make sure it is soaking up as much milk a possible.
Side note….Don’t my nails look pretty??
Next, I get the veggie component ready. I use the word “veggie” lightly. I don’t think anything pictured above really has any nutritional value.
I sauté the veggies, over medium heat, for about 8 minutes. I just want to soften everything. I used a smidge of oil in the pan, and I stirred frequently. Don’t let your garlic burn!
I am having a secret love affair with chives. I throw then into everything these days. They totally work in this.
I let the veggies cool before they get mixed into anything. Not for a long time, just a few minutes.
Meanwhile, I tossed the chicken, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper into the bowl. You can put the spices in here or into your veggies. Either is fine.
I squeezed the bread to get rid of the extra milk, and added that to the bowl. I also added the cooled veggies. Then, I dug in. I mixed just until everything was incorporated. Don’t over mix. You want your meatballs to be light and fluffy, not dense. Lightly mixing will keep them light….like biting into a light, chicken pillow.
Throw away your extra milk, in case you didn’t figure that one out on your own.
All mixed.
I used a ¼ cup scoop to measure my balls. I placed them in a greased (sprayed) pan. This mixture is super wet. It will almost be hard to form balls. Just do your best, but they will still flatten out a bit. This mixture NEEDS to be wet. Remember, we want moist balls. Ha ha…..moist balls.
I baked these at 400 degrees for 10 minutes to set their shape. Then, I turned the heat down to 350 and let them go another 15 to 20 minutes.
See how they are browned a bit? That means they are done. What the heck happened to the one in the corner? The oven must have eaten it;)
I make a quick pomodoro sauce to serve over my meatballs. You can use your favorite jarred sauce, but this pomodoro sauce is so easy, why open a jar?
I used a can of “ground” tomatoes which is a fancier way of saying “crushed” tomatoes, I guess. I also used the other half of my onion, more garlic, salt and sugar. The sugar will help the sauce taste less like canned tomatoes.
In a medium sized pot, I lightly sautéed the onion and garlic. Just enough to soften them.
P.S. This makes more sauce then you need, but you can save it for pasta. It freezes well.
I stirred in the tomatoes, salt and sugar and let this simmer for about 15 minutes.
If you are fancy, you can add fresh basil. I, clearly, am not.
For my slider rolls, I used a package of dinner rolls. I cut them in half and laid them out on a baking sheet.
I placed a slice of fresh mozzarella on the bottom half of each roll. Then, I popped these under the broiler until the rolls were slightly browned and the cheese was melty.
When it all came together, it looked like this little piece of heaven above. I spooned sauce over the meatball and served.
These little sliders were crazy good. They were everything you could ask for in a meatball. The balls were flavorful, moist and light. They were the perfect little 3 bite sandwich. My kids loved them too!
This recipe makes about 12 sliders, so if you are making these for a party, just double the meatball recipe….you will have enough sauce. If you are having these at a party….will you invite me?
See you on Thursday!
Chicken Meatballs
3 slices hearty white bread, like sourdough
¾ cup milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1& 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 heaping tablespoon chives, chopped
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound ground chicken breast
1 egg
½ cup parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pour milk into a small bowl. Add bread. Push bread down to help the milk soak in. Soak for at least 10 minutes.
Add olive oil to a sauté pan. Sauté onion, garlic, chives and parsley in oil for about 8 minutes over medium heat. Veggies should be soft and translucent, but not browned. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a bowl, mix together bread (excess milk squeezed out), cooled veggies, egg, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and ground chicken. Form meatballs using a ¼ cup scoop. Place meatballs into a greased baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 degrees and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until meatballs are starting to brown and are cooked through.
Pomodoro Sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add salt, sugar and tomatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes over medium heat.
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