Chicken Parm Meatballs

By dena

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds ground chicken
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup Pecorino (or Parm)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 egg, whisked
• zest of half a lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 14-ounce can storebought pizza sauce
• 4 about 4 ounces fresh mozzarella

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from dinneralovestory.com

Preparation

Step 1

This makes 12 large-ish meatballs. My best self would’ve let the meatballs freeze at this point you see above (after initial 15-minute bake) then frozen them for future use, on which day, my best self would’ve transferred the frozen meatballs to the fridge in the morning, then heated them up in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes (before proceeding with broiling) upon her return later that night.

Preheat oven to 400°F, setting rack to upper third part of oven. In a large bowl, using your hands, gently mix together first 11 ingredients. Shape into lacrosse-ball size balls (that would be somewhere between golf and tennis) and place a few inches from each other on a foil-lined baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix one spoonful of your pizza sauce with olive oil. Brush this mixture on top of each meatball. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove meatballs from oven, spoon some sauce on top of each meatball, and cover each with a slice of cheese. Broil another 3 to 5 minutes until cheese is bubbly and golden.  Heat remaining sauce in a small saucepan. Serve meatballs with a dollop of sauce and a raw Tuscan kale salad that has been shredded and tossed with shallots, Pecornio, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

It should be noted that you can probably majorly up the delicious factor by adding a little chopped pork product to the meatball mix (pancetta, prosciutto) but if you’re going to do that, my feeling is that you might as well just make regular old fat-heavy beef/pork/veal meatballs.