- Baked Chicken Meatballs
Adapted from Gourmet
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- Serves 4, or more as appetizers or sliders
- 3 slices Italian bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped (you can swap in Canadian
Bacon if you can't find pancetta)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons tomato paste, divided*
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
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- Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the upper third
of the oven. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened,
about four minutes.
- Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in one tablespoon oil with
1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large skillet over
medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. (Alternately,
as in "I thought of this after the fact", I'd bet you
could render the pancetta for a couple minutes and cook the onions
and garlic in that fat, rather than olive oil.) Cool slightly.
- Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly
beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken, 1 tablespoon
tomato paste, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Form 12 meatballs
and arrange in another 4-sided sheet pan (I used a 9×13
roasting dish).
- Stir together remaining tablespoons of tomato paste and oil
and brush over meatballs (the paste/oil does not mix in any cohesive
manner, but just smoosh it on and run with it) , then bake in
upper third of oven until meatballs are just cooked through,
15 to 20 minutes (though mine took a good 5 minutes longer).
- * I accidentally added a heaping tablespoon of the tomato
paste into the meatball mixture the first time I made it, and
ended up liking it better than without it. I'd use the tomato
paste on top too. It's good both places.
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