Monday, June 23, 2008

Orecchiette With Mini Chicken Meatballs.

Last night Mike and I made a delicious recipe by Giada De Laurentiis ...

It is called Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs and oh my goodness was it yummy!

If interested you can
Click Here To Print out the recipe. I will also post the recipe below my pictures and note the tiny changes we made to the recipe.


Just look at some of the fresh ingredients the recipe calls for


I've never used real mozzarella balls in a recipe before ... but I did last night!


Some of the yummy chicken meatballs cooking up in the pan


The tomato and chicken stock concoction brewing


Adding the chicken meatballs back to the tomato/chicken stock


Pouring the sauce and chicken meatballs over the pasta


Yummy goodness ....


And we served it with this delicious garlic bread!

This is Giada's recipe:

Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs Recipe
Giada De Laurentiis, 2008

1 pound orecchiette pasta
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 tablespoon ketchup
3/4 cup grated Romano
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, hot
4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
8 ounces bocconcini mozzarella, halved
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, parsley, eggs, milk, ketchup, Romano cheese, and the salt and pepper. Add the chicken and gently stir to combine.
Using a melon baller (or a teaspoon measure), form the chicken mixture into 3/4-inch pieces. With damp hands, roll the chicken pieces into mini meatballs.

In a large (14-inch) skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the meatballs and cook without moving until brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Turn the meatballs over and brown the other side, about 2 minutes longer. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer until tomatoes are soft and meatballs are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water. Transfer pasta to a large serving bowl and add the Parmesan. Toss to lightly coat orecchiette, adding reserved pasta water, if needed, to loosen the pasta. Add the meatball mixture, mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup of the basil. Gently toss to combine. Garnish with the chopped basil.

And now for the tiny changes we made:

I couldn't find orecchiette pasta ... so I used pasta shells instead.

Instead of the grated ramono cheese I used grated parmesan. We had the parmesan on hand and I saw no reason to buy another product that was basically the same.

I used grape tomatos instead of cherry tomatos only because our local grocery store did not have cherry tomatos due to the tomato scare.

Mike added some italian blend spices to the sauce while simmering it.

On this recipe it never, ever tells you to add the meatballs to the sauce. Actually it never tells you to remove them either. But yes ... you add the meatballs back to the sauce once you have the tomatos and chicken broth in the pan. We found that a little confusing.

We made sure to cook the brew a little longer than the five minutes it recommends ... we did this to make 100% sure the chicken meatballs were completely done.

Again ... this is a yummy, yummy recipe!!! It's fairly easy ... and it creates a HUGE amount of food. We will be eating left overs for awhile.

Let me know if you try it!

12 comments:

  1. This looks so yummy!
    You find the greatest recipes..thanks:)

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  2. Looks good but I know your brother won't eat it. I'll just have to wait to visit you and then try it.

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  3. I like it---and will give it a shot out here in Granola land---but not til fall when the weather is cooler. Not sure we can get that fancy flat leaf parsley out here---but hey time will tell. The pictures sure sold me on wanting to give it a shot, good post lady!! (eeeeeehawww)

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  4. I'm not a big tomato person, but it looks really good.

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  5. A friend of mine has read your blog and loves the recipe and raised the question-----How is this recipe as say leftovers? My friend is going to be going on a camping trip (I believe in a motor home) and was wondering if she could make up your recipe, with the thought of having it for leftovers on the camping trip? any thoughts on that (email me at gjgilm@aol.com) unless ya care to post it on your blog for other inquiring minds?

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  6. Oh My goodness thi slooks delicious!

    My kids would freak out if I put this on the table. (visual eatters)

    I am definetly trying this one!

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  7. This looks great. I can't wait to try it. You always have the best recipes.

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  8. Anonymous6:40 PM

    Missy,
    I saw the show also and it looked fantastic. So glad you tried it since it didn't have any ratings at the time. Maybe I'll half the recipe since its just me and Carl.
    Yum!!! Nice blog site.
    Tish (Garys niece)

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  9. That looks really good Missy! I'll have to tell Janna to check out your "foodie" post.

    Be sure and stop by her food blog to see the wonderful chocolate cake she made...a Paula Deen recipe!

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  10. looks great hope Judi will make it for me while I am there
    Thanks for your comment on my site,
    the serving pieces are fun to make

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  11. YUM!!!!!!!
    This looks too good and you do find the best recipe's:))
    Cecile

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  12. Okay ... for those interested in how this tastes as leftovers ... we had the Orecchiette With Mini Chicken Meatballs for dinner again last night.

    It was delicious ... I think it may have been even better on day 2 than on day 1 because the pasta and meatballs had time to absorb all of the flavors ... yum, yum, yummmmmmmmmy!!!!!!!!!!

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