Lemon + Basil Chicken Meatballs

When I get an idea for a meal, I have a very, very hard time letting that idea float back into the ether. These meatballs bounced around like a ping pong ball in my head for two weeks (two weeks!) before I had a chance to make them. The thing is, I wanted meatballs, but the traditional type with three kinds of meat, woody oregano, heaps of garlic, long-simmered tomato sauce... nah. It is just too dang hot outside for classic meatballs.



I wanted something appropriate for the summer weather that has finally arrived here in the northeast, so I turned to basil, the summeriest herb. I started out with this recipe but I made some alterations because I wanted them to be fresh and citrusy... and I didn't have any milk in the house. Turns out I didn't need it. Lemon juice softened up the breadcrumbs just fine and I didn't miss the dairy fat because I used DUCK FAT!



I had duck leftover from my creative practicum for school (I made duck rillettes as part of my alternative charcuterie plate) and now I look for opportunities to use it. It's an animal fat so it's not as light as, say, olive oil, but since ground chicken tends to be pretty lean, adding back some fat really enriches the meatballs. If you don't have any duck fat or chicken fat (maybe saved from a roast), butter or oil would be just fine. No matter what fat you choose to use, you should try these meatballs.



Lemon and Basil Chicken Meatballs
serves 4, or 2 twice

The first day we ate these over spaghetti tossed with some sorrel pesto, but later in the week I split open a baguette, smeared it heavily with basil pesto (frozen from last summer, I'm trying to make room in the freezer for this year's haul), topped it with shredded mozzarella and stuck it under the broiler until the cheese bubbled. They were so good I didn't even get a chance to take a picture. I also think these would be excellent as cocktail nibbles, maybe with basil oil drizzled over or a pesto dip. 

1 cup fresh bread crumbs (from about 3 slices white sandwich bread)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 a medium onion, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon duck fat or chicken fat if you have them, butter or oil if not
salt and pepper
1 egg
1 pound ground chicken
4 tablespoons basil, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Combine the breadcrumbs with the juice of the lemon and set aside.

Heat a saute pan over medium low heat and heat the fat or oil. Gently cook the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for another thirty seconds or until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. If you move the onions to another bowl, save the fat in the pan.

Combine the chicken, egg, lemon zest, lemony breadcrumbs and cooked onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste (at least 1/2 a teaspoon of each). Use your hands to gently mix the ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Heat a little more fat in the saute pan or use what's leftover in the pan to saute a little patty of the mixture and taste it. Does it need more salt or more lemon? Adjust the seasoning if you need to.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat (incidentally, you should use separate mats for savory and sweet cooking, those things absorb smells and flavors and cookies that taste like onion are... not delicious).

Roll the meat into small balls, about an inch in diameter, trying not to compress them too much as you roll. Easy does it, ok? Line them up on the sheet pan as you form them. Bake the meatballs for 20-30 minutes or until bits are golden brown and the meatballs are cooked through. Enjoy with pasta or as a meatball sub or on toothpicks with pesto for dipping, yum.

Turkey Meatball Banh Mi Sandwiches

I considered starting this post "so now that we've got healthy and resolved out of the way, let's make meatball sandwiches!" And then I thought better of it, because I don't want you to feel bad about making these, because guys. This is the best sandwich I have ever made.

It is hearty and spicy enough to make me sweat just a little (don't run away from that, there's a way to fix it!), and warm and satisfying. We had these for dinner, then constructed two more minus the pickles (so they wouldn't get soggy), and wrapped them in plastic. At work the next day I added pickles and it was delicious even cold!

The recipe is from Bon Appetit's January 2010 meatball issue, though I made a few adjustments. Adam generally avoids pork (and other animals in the top 5 intelligent animal category), so I used ground turkey. I also eyeballed the mayo recipe because I didn't know where my 1/3 cup measure was.

 Oh, and I couldn't find daikon so I used some regular red radishes we had in the fridge. I tried coarsely grating the carrots but all I had were baby ones, and I didn't want to smash  my knuckles to bits on the grater, so I julienned them. It was a bit of a pain, but I really liked the pickles so it was worth it. Don't forget to hollow out the bread!

If you think this is going to be too spicy for you, don't skimp on the mayo, just skip the jalapenos.

Turkey Meatball Banh Mi
adapted from Bon Appetit, January 2010
makes 4 sandwiches*

For the mayo:

2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 finely chopped green onions
1 tablespoon sriracha

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir. Easy peasy! Cover and chill.

For the pickles:
2 cups carrots, julienne (or coarsely grated)
2 cups daikon, julienne (or coarsely grated) - I used regular red radishes because I couldn't find daikon. they were a pain to cut but they worked just fine.
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar (or 1/4 cup unseasoned vinegar + 2 T sugar)
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let stand at room temperature for about an hour, giving it a stir if you think of it a couple of times.


For the meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt

You also need:
4 very small baguettes (8-10inches long) or 4 8-10" pieces of baguette, cut from 2 baguettes
2 jalapeno chile, sliced as thin as you can get it, seeded
16 sprigs cilantro
grapeseed or other neutral oil
sesame oil

First, combine the pickle ingredients and set them aside at room temp. Then combine the spicy mayo ingredients and stick that in the fridge. Ok, great,  now let's make meatballs!

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with plastic. In a large bowl, gently combine all the meatball ingredients. Gently! Compact meatballs are dense and heavy and icky. We don't want that. If you have time, chill the meat mixture for 30 minutes to make it easier to form into balls. If not, press on.

Set out a little bowl of water, and moisten your fingers. Use a tablespoon measure to scoop up scant tablespoons of meat and gently roll them into 1 inch meatballs. It's more of a press than a roll, really, but gentle is key. Line them up on the plastic-lined baking sheet until you run out of meat. I got about 30 meatballs out of the mixture.

Heat a tablespoon or so of grapeseed oil plus a couple of dashes of sesame oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Saute the meatballs in two batches until browned all over and cooked through, turning frequently with tongs. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain, or if necessary a 300 degree oven to keep warm.

Now to construct the sandwich: hollow out a length of baguette to create a little bread boat for your fillings. Slap a thin layer of hot chili mayo over each side of the bread. In one shell, place cilantro and jalapenos, then 1/4 of the meatballs, then a pile of pickles (drain them first). Top with the other bread shell.