Italian Chicken Meatballs Recipes

Steps:

• Heat your oven to 325°F.
• In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the fennel seeds and red chili flakes until their aroma begins to smell smoky and more pronounced. Do not let them burn. Remove them from heat and grind them, in a coffee or spice grinder, with 1 teaspoon -each- of dried basil, marjoram, and thyme. Set this spice blend aside.
• In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the three ounces Vidalia onions, green bell pepper, and celery in 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
• Season the vegetables with 1/4 teaspoon -each- of salt and black pepper. (Adjust to reflect personal tastes.) Add 5 cloves of minced garlic and continue to sauté until the vegetables are completely softened.
• Add the three tablespoons skim milk to the vegetables and cook to further soften them until all the milk appears to have been absorbed.
• Remove the vegetables from heat and cool for a few minutes.
• In a bowl, mix the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 egg, 1 ounce parmesan cheese, and the spice blend (see step 2, above) with a wooden spoon. Blend thoroughly.
• Add the cooled vegetables and stir them in to the chicken mixture, completely incorporating the them.
• Keeping one hand dry, form small, golf-ball sized balls (about 1-1/2 inches in diameter) from the meat and roll in the flour. Roll the floured meatballs in your hand to remove the excess. (NOTE: You will probably use a cup of flour, but only an ounce or so will stick to the meatballs when you knock off the excess.) This will make approximately 20 meatballs.
• In a skillet over medium, heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil until hot. Add the meatballs (do not over-crowd; do this in several batches if necessary) and lightly brown them on one side, first, before flipping them over and doing the other. Each side should take about 3 minutes.
• When all the meatballs have been browned, set them aside and -in the skillet where they were browned- sauté 3 minced garlic cloves and the 1 ounce of minced shallot. Add the diced tomatoes, teaspoon of both marjoram and thyme, and the 1/4 teaspoon of both salt and black pepper. Mix together and bring to a simmer.
• Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
• Place the browned meatballs in a baking dish and pour the tomato mixture over them. Put the meatballs and sauce in the oven for 45 minutes.
• Remove the finished meatballs, place them on a platter, and garnish with 1 ounce grated parmesan cheese and 1 ounce finely chopped green onion.
• Serve family style with rice, pasta, gnocci, or broccoli.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the Parmesan, parsley, milk, salt, oregano, pepper flakes, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and 1 egg. Add the chicken and gently stir to combine, being careful not to overwork the meat. Shape the meat mixture into bite-size balls and press a cube of mozzarella in the middle of each, sealing it with the meat around it.
• Set up a standard breading station: put the flour in one shallow bowl, the remaining 1 cup of breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and the remaining 2 eggs in another separate bowl. Roll each meatball in the flour, then the egg wash, then the breadcrumbs.
• Fill a medium Dutch oven a third of the way with vegetable oil and place over medium heat. Bring the oil to 350 degrees F using a deep-fry thermometer,
• Drop in the meatballs a few at a time so as to not lower the temperature, and fry until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and season with a pinch of salt. Continue with the remaining meatballs. Serve warm with marinara for dipping if desired.

Steps:

• Stir together the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and basil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes while preparing meatballs.
• Mix together the ground chicken, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, eggs, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Roll into 1 inch balls. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Brown the meatballs on all sides. Add meatballs to the simmering pasta sauce and cook until internal temperature of meatballs reaches a minimum of 160 degrees F (72 degrees C), about 30 minutes.
• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the spaghetti, and return to a boil. Cook until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain. Serve the meatballs and sauce over the cooked spaghetti.

Steps:

• Put chicken in freezer while you prepare other ingredients. Put Parmesan, parsley and onion in a food processor and process until everything is finely chopped. Add egg, chicken and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper, and continue to pulse until the chicken is coarsely ground - finer than chopped, but not much. Shape into one-inch meatballs, pressing no more than necessary.
• Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. One by one, dredge the meatballs in the flour and add to the oil. Cook, turning as necessary, until nicely browned all over, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Rinse chicken and clean vegetables.
• Cut the tops off the carrots and remove onion skin but keep whole.
• Place chicken, vegetables, bullion, tomato sauce and enough water to cover in a large stock pot, covered, over high heat until it boils.
• Reduce heat and tilt lid to let soup simmer about 4 hours.
• Strain fat from top of broth.
• Carefully remove vegetables into a bowl to let cool.
• Carefully remove chicken, it's HOT! and let rest while you strain the broth through a metal strainer into a smaller pot.
• Mix all meatball ingredients together in a large bowl, being careful not to over-mix. In a large saucepan, add two or three generous ladles of chicken soup broth.
• Form small meatballs and cook in soup broth simmering until cooked, about 10 minutes. Add to strained broth.
• While meatballs are cooking, slice carrots and celery, and shred or slice chicken and add to strained broth.
• Now, I put some noodles into the bowl and add a ladle of soup on top and top it with grated cheese. (We're Italian. Cheese goes on everything.).
• I do not add the noodles to the soup directly because they tend to soak up all the broth , which make it difficult to eat as leftovers. This recipe makes enough for two nights for my family of 5. I freeze half for another time.