Monday

Chicken Meatballs with Mozzarella


Chicken Meatballs with Mozzarella Centers


Ouch.
 
I've long been guilty of subscribing to food/recipe oriented magazines,
and with good intentions I read them and earmark recipes I'd
like to try. Unfortunately too often time gets away
from me and before I know it the next issue has arrived
in my mail box.

This year I'm trying to improve this habit ~ 
For starters I've pared down
the number of subscriptions and I'm making an effort to
actually make at least one or two recipes that I've
saved.

Maybe you've found, as I have, that with access to the 
internet the number of great recipes available to us is
seemingly endless. So if you're not a magazine subscriber or
cookbook-collector there is no need to be concerned about
finding great recipes when there are so many available
 at the touch of our keypads.




These are also delicious served as an appetizer with marinara (skip the pasta)
or served with cocktail picks and your favorite salsa.



This recipe is from a fall 2012 issue of Everyday Food.

The changes I made to the recipe:  

1.) I did not deep fry the meatballs before baking; 
I shallow fried them in a skillet with about
1/2-inch of oil, then drained well before baking to
finish cooking them through.  You can skip the
frying step, but the meatballs will be a rather unappealing
pale gray color, and they won't have the pleasing thin, 
crisp coating.

2.) I made each meatball about 1 1/2-inch in diameter;
3 or 4 meatballs of this size (with pasta) seemed
like a generous portion. 
3.) I grind my own chicken (boned, trimmed and skinned
thighs) with the  KitchenAid Food Grinder (attachment
for KA stand mixers).

If you haven't tried grinding your own meat, I urge you to do
so. You can control the grind that you prefer, you'll know just
what goes into your ground meat, and the quality is far
superior to that which you can buy.  It's a very simple
process and only takes a few minutes for worthwhile results.



A nice melty surprise when the meatball is cut open.
The meatballs above were cooked right after assembly.



These were frozen after shallow frying. (Cooled then frozen, to be baked later.)


I froze half of the meatballs after shallow frying, cooled (before baking),
they freeze beautifully ~ I thawed them for about an hour
before baking.  The only difference I noted is that the mozzarella
chunk left an exact impression after baking. 
The melted cheese is not quite gooey as those freshly 
assembled then cooked immediately, but I doubt anyone but
you will know the difference!  ;^)

Note: You can also make these using ground turkey.



If you try this method of preparing meatballs, I hope it will become a favorite.

Thank you for stopping by today!

xo~m.





6 comments:

  1. You can never go wrong with Spaghetti and Meatballs. Especially when they look as delectable as your version. ~Ann

    ReplyDelete
  2. Un plat généreux rempli de saveurs...
    gros bisous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mari, This recipe sounds delicious and I love the fact that they have that little bit of fresh mozzerella in them. This is a recipe I would definitely like to try. Like you I have pared down my magazine subscriptions for some of the same reasons. I like your suggestion of the KA meat grinding attachment. Certainly makes a lot of sense to me.

    Carolyn

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loving the hidden surprise in these tasty meatballs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks delicious... love the cheese in the middle!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for your nice comments everyone! xo

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments, friends ~ they make my day!

A Sampling of my food . . .

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