I have always reluctantly reached for the ground turkey as a substitute for beef. While I have enjoyed a doctored up turkey burger on occasion, I find turkey can be just a little on the bland side.....in my humble opinion of course! Ever since experimenting with a ground chicken burger recently, I am a total convert. It's ironic though, as I generally struggle to get excited over anything involving the ever-popular boneless skinless chicken breast.
But all ground up? And just begging to be mixed with a bunch of flavorful, moisture inducing ingredients? Chicken rocks.
This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. (If you are unfamiliar, I encourage you to check it out. I could spend HOURS browsing and drooling). It uses a panade, or a mixture of milk and bread, to create an awesome, moist meatball. And one that's not screaming for a plate of pasta....I think. Maybe I take that back since these would be delicious along side mud. Most times I serve them with some mashed potatoes and veggies, instead of going the spaghetti route. They would also make a great little appetizer. The choice is yours.....you'll love them any way.
~Erin
Baked Chicken Meatballs
Author: Erin (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
1 cup torn up bits of italian bread
1/3 cup milk
3 oz. bacon, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. ground chicken
2 T tomato paste
3 T parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, and move rack to upper 1/3 of oven.
Soak bread bits in milk until softened.
Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 T. bacon fat in pan.
Cook onion in skillet until softened, adding 1/2 t. salt and 1/2 t. pepper. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Squeeze excess milk from bread, and discard milk.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, egg, bacon mixture, bread, 1 T tomato paste, and parsley. Mix together gently, ideally with your hands.
Form 12 meatballs and place in a 9x13 pan.
Mix together remaining 1 T tomato paste and 1 T olive oil. Brush mixture on to tops of meatballs.
Bake in upper 1/3 of the oven for 15-20 minutes, until just cooked through.
I have never been a huge pasta eater. I'd be more likely to order pizza from the appetizer menu in an Italian restaurant, then order a plate of spaghetti. As much as I love carb-laden meal, plain old pasta was always missing something for me.
Enter bacon.
And suddenly red sauce gets a kick in the pants. We all know that bacon makes everything better, and this is no exception. I found this recipe in an issue of Cook's Country featuring a pasta sauce contest. Believe it or not, this one from Patricia Lohrey of Port Ludlow, WA was only named a runner up. I have made a few of the other recipes, and find it hard to believe that a combo of bacon and cream did not send everyone else home. The original recipe calls for 6 slices of bacon, but truth be told I often add more. The little bit of cayenne is not so much spicy as it is flavor-enhancing. And do not fear the red pepper...they are not at all over-powering like a green one can be. Enjoy!
~Erin
Roasted Red Pepper and Bacon Pasta
Author: Erin (Adapted from Cook's Country)
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups jarred roasted red peppers, drained (approx. a 10 oz jar)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (fire roasted are great if you can find them)
1 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 T. red wine
2 T. olive oil
6 slices of bacon
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp, drain on paper towels. Reserve approximately 2 teaspoons of fat in the skillet.
While bacon is cooking, puree drained peppers, tomatoes, oregano, cayenne, wine, and oil in a blender or food processor.
Cook onions in reserved bacon fat until softened, about 3 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Add red pepper mixture and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Off heat, stir in cream and half of crumbled bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.
Prepare 1 lb of pasta, top with sauce, and garnish with remaining bacon.
Notes
I have substituted half and half for cream to lighten the sauce up, if only slightly. Still delicious.
So as I was trying to formulate in my head what I would write about these, I was thinking of saying something along the lines of, "even if you don't like asparagus, you'll like these" and I realized I have a theme going. Of the four recipes I am posting this month, three of them qualify under this "even if you don't like it, try it" mantra. (See Pumpkin Squares and the as yet to come Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta.)
I don't know why this is. It isn't like I planned to post things that people may not like. It's actually a horrible idea the more I think about it. "Let's start a food blog! OK! I'm gonna pick recipes that a lot of people will take one look at and say, 'Ew. No thank you!'" Genius.
I guess when I was weeding through my ridiculous amount of recipe options trying to pick which ones I wanted to start with, I was (subconsciously or consciously) choosing ones that are so fabulously delicious despite what they may be made out of. They have that little bit of a surprise factor that takes something you've probably had before and may not have liked (asparagus {canned no less}, pumpkin, or brussels sprouts) and turns it into this great recipe that you will make over and over again. In fact, this and the pumpkin squares are recipes my mom got from friends of hers when I was little (which was a LOOOONG time ago) and we still make them.
Now, don't balk at the high-class, fancy ingredients here... I'm totally joking...these are about as WT as you can get – white bread, canned asparagus... But they are SOOOO good and can be made ahead of time (always a plus in my book). I swear this is another one of those recipes that I take somewhere and people say, "Oh, no thanks...I don't like asparagus" and then someone will encourage them to try it (usually a spouse since we're the only ones who will HOUND the other enough to get them to try something – and then they only really eat it to get us to shut up with plans to spit it into their cocktail napkin) and they ALWAYS like it. I've never had anyone spit them out into their cocktail napkin (that I know of).
And there's bacon in them – that's really probably all I needed to write. Bacon. ~Leah
Asparagus Roll-Ups with Bacon
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author: Leah
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8-12
Ingredients
12 slices white bread
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temp
8 slices bacon
1 can of asparagus spears, drained
1/2 stick of butter, melted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook, drain, and crumble the bacon.
Stir the bacon into the softened cream cheese until well distributed. Set aside.
Trim the crusts from the bread and flatten each slice with a rolling pin (they will get pretty thin and flat).
Spread the cream cheese and bacon mixture evenly onto each of the 12 slices of bread.
Lay one asparagus spear in the center of each slice of bread, trimming the ends if necessary so that they are even with the top and bottom of the bread.
Roll the bread lengthwise so that the asparagus spear runs through the center of the entire roll from end to end.
Cut each of the 12 rolls of bread into thirds.
Place seam side down on a foil-lined cookie sheet and brush with the melted butter.
Bake 12-14 minutes until warmed through then Broil for 2-4 minutes to toast/brown the bread...keep a close watch so you don't burn your bread!
Serve warm.
Notes
I like to prepare bacon 1 of 2 ways for crumbling. Either put it in a cold oven on a rack over a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or I like to stack the raw slices and cut them up as small as I can and then cook/brown them in a pan and scoop out with a slotted spoon to drain.
If you're having a hard time mixing the bacon in with the cream cheese, you can try using a hand mixer or microwaving the cream cheese for just a few seconds at a time until you can work with it...you don't want to completely melt it though!
These are great to prepare the day before or to bring to a party and then bake. If you do prepare them beforehand, don't brush them with the melted butter and you will need to store them in the fridge. Take them out for at least a half hour before baking and then brush with the melted butter. Also be aware that your baking time will probably be longer if you're using them from the fridge.
