Thursday, June 19, 2008

Well, I loved these
--Chicken and Sun-Dried-Tomato Meatballs



Chicken and Sun-Dried-Tomato Meatballs
Food & Wine An Entire Year of Recipes 2004 Copyright 2004

4 oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, drained and blotted dry
2 garlic cloves
1 large jalapeño—halved, seeded and coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 pound ground chicken breast
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon fat-free milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for dusting
One 14 1/2-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes with their juices
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

In a food processor, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, half of the jalapeño, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. Add the bread crumbs and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the chicken, egg and milk. Using lightly moistened hands, roll the mixture into 20 meatballs, a scant 1 1/2 tablespoons each. (Mine were larger.) Dust the meatballs lightly with flour, tapping off any excess.

Wipe out the food processor and add the remaining garlic clove and jalapeño half; pulse until chopped. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the oregano and process until smooth.

In a 9-inch cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the meatballs and cook over moderate heat, turning, until golden but not quite cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the tomato sauce to the skillet and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

Return the meatballs to the skillet and simmer, turning, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

SERVE WITH: Pasta or crusty bread.

Serves 4. Per serving 290 calories, 10.4 gm total fat, 1.8 gm saturated fat, 16 gm carb.
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I thought these meatballs were great. They had a slightly different flavor than your average Italian meatball, yet they weren't too 'out there'. There wasn't a lot of sauce (enough for serving with bread or on rolls but I'd probably double it for serving it with pasta again).

I was all set to say that I would definitely make these again (and I still probably will) but while cleaning up, I found 3 meatballs and pasta in the trash. My husband said he couldn't finish it. This is believable I guess - the man cannot judge portions. He just loads up a plate, toppling with food, and sits down and eats what he can. How, after 36 years old, can you not judge portions? There is always a large pool of ketchup or barbecue sauce left on his plate.

Of course, the man has never shopped for his own groceries and has no concept of what anything costs. Yes, I was quite PO'd - that was an entire serving of food (for a normal person). He only left me two meatballs for my lunch and there were three in the trash???

I'm going to have to cut this short. I have way too much real work to do today.

7 comments:

DancesInGarden said...

My DH has done that too. If I let he and DD serve themselves first, I am lucky to get anything at all for MY dinner. Or they take extra then leave it on their plate, when I planned on leftovers for another meal.

I think when you aren't doing the cooking, shopping, and planning, it doesn't occur to you to think beyond that one meal.

ThursdayNext said...

yeah, it reminds me of the time when my sister - who has no idea about food - thought that my bolognese sauce - made out of mostly veal - went bad in the freezer after a month. unreal. i was mad for weeks.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, my DH uses half a bottle of syrup for his 3 or 4 waffles. Seriously. And then wonders why I buy him the cheapest stuff I can find. He also does this with every other condiment he uses. How he thinks he would ever use a giant puddle of ketchup for one corn dog is beyond me. It makes me crazy.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

OMG! Don't even talk to me about syrup. I was making DH waffles for breakfasts thinking it would be a cheap breakfast option but he goes through a bottle of syrup and a tub (or more) of light butter with them.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! Hearing all this makes me shudder. I hate waste. I would be totally irritated, also, if someone dumped portions or wasted syrup, etc. I don't have that problem with any of my "diners", thank goodness.

Jan

Anonymous said...

P.S.

Those meatballs sound good. I'll try them. A while back, after thinking ground chicken might go over better than ground turkey (which my bunch doesn't really like), I made the ground chicken patties you posted. Everyone liked them, so now I have the go-ahead. Yay!

Jan

Andrea Hayes said...

These sound great, I will make them and let you know. I am excited to try these. Thanks