Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 3.5 oz. sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
• 1 slice bread (suggest Pepperidge Farm® Farmhouse Sourdough)
• 1/3 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 3-4 large cloves of garlic
• fresh rosemary (~1 large spring)
• fresh thyme (~6-8 stems)
• fresh sage (~5-6 leaves)
• 1/2 teaspoon Redmond's® Real Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormack's® Peppercorn Medley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Directions:

Mince garlic and set aside.  Strip rosemary and thyme leaves and mince them, along with the sage, and set aside.  Pulse the bread in a food processor to make fine breadcrumbs and set aside.  Lightly beat egg and set aside.  Drain (but preserve the oil) and rough chop the sun-dried tomatoes.

Put the tomatoes and garlic in the food processor and pulse.  Add in the bread crumbs and pulse.  Put this mixture to a large mixing bowl.  Then add the rest of the ingredients, except for the saved oil and mix well.

Shape into 21 meatballs and place on a large metal pan.  Brush with the olive oil from the sun-dried tomatoes container.  Bake until done (165 degrees), approximately 16 minutes.

Myrtle's Note:  I have wanted to try chicken meatballs for a while and went looking for a recipe.  This was close to what I wanted, although I changed the herbs and switched to fresh breadcrumbs.  Since the original recipe called for 1.5 pounds of chicken and I wanted to have a recipe for a 1 pound container, I had to work out reducing some of the ingredients.  The mixture feels really wet and I was worried, as I rolled out the meatballs, that they would not set, but the end result were really tasty, firm meatballs.

Yield:  6 servings

Source:  adapted from http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken-meatballs-with-sun-dried-tomatoes/

Lemon Thins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup lard (or shortening)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350.


Directions:

In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla paste.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.   Once the dough comes together, turn it out onto the counter and shape into a 12 inch roll.  Wrap the roll in plastic and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Unwrap dough.  Cut into 1/4th inch slices, cutting only enough for your pans and then put the roll back into the refrigerator.  Place two inches apart on stoneware or an un-greased baking sheet.

Bake until the edges are just starting to lightly brown (approximately 11-13 minutes).  Half way through, rotate the pan.  Cool 1-2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Myrtle's Note: The two substitutions I did was to use lard and vanilla paste.  The one thing I found, again, with my oven these cookies took 12-13 minutes, when the original recipe says 8-9 minutes.  I was surprised the cooking time was so off.  Because they are such a thin cookie, I also learned that it is important to rotate the pan half way through.  Otherwise, the back ones become too browned.  I am not a browned cookie kind of person.  In short: these are really, really, really tasty ... thin, crispy, and lemony.  Mmmm!

Yield: 4 dozen

Source:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/lemon-thins

Eggplant Involtini

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants (~1.5 lbs each)
• 1 small red onion
• olive oil
• 1 quart whole tomatoes in juice (not puree)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 pinch dried red pepper flakes
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• pecorino cheese
• 1 slice bread
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped, or 1 large dollop Gourmet Gardens® basil paste
• Redmond's® Real Salt
• McCormack's® Peppercorn Medley

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees


Directions:

Prep.  Line two large baking pans with greased parchment paper and set aside.  Grate pecorino cheese (about 3/4 cups rounded) and set aside.  Mince onion and set aside.  Mince Garlic and set aside.  Use a food processor to create breadcrumbs from the slice of bread and set aside.  Drain the tomatoes into a bowl.  Rough chop the tomatoes.  Put the pieces into the bowl of tomato juice and set aside.

Roast the eggplants.  Peel the eggplants.  Trim a small bit from each side so that all your ensuing slices can lay flat.  Slice into 1/2 inch slices.  Lay out the slices on the pans.  Brush olive oil (about 5 tablespoons) on the slices, then salt and pepper.  Flip and repeat.  Place into the oven and roast for approximately 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest, flipping after 5 minutes lest condensation form beneath the slices.

Make the tomato sauce (whilst the eggplant slices are roasting).  In a sauteause pan (one that can go into the oven), put one teaspoon of olive oil and brown the onions.  Part way through, add the garlic and finishing browning.  Add in the tomatoes and their juice.  Add oregano, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon peppercorn medley, and pinch of red pepper flakes.  Let simmer whilst making the cheese filling.

Make the cheese filling.  In a medium bowl, add together the ricotta, a well rounded (heaping) 1/2 cup of pecorino, the breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (about 1/2 of a large lemon), the basil (I prefer the paste) and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Mix until well-blended.

Roll the eggplant slices. Distribute the cheese mixture evenly amongst the slices by placing a hefty soup spoon of cheese mixture onto the large end of the eggplant slices.  Starting from that large end, roll up the eggplant slices around the cheese mixture.  Place each slice into the sauce, with the seam side down.  Put one eggplant roll into the middle of the pan and fan the rest around it into a circle.

Finish.  Simmer on the stove for 12-15 minutes (look for the cheese mixture to melt).  Remove from the stove and top with more grated pecorino.  Finish in the oven beneath broil to brown the top.


Myrtle's Note:  I saw this on America's Test Kitchen and wanted to make it immediately.  Whilst I did tweak the tomato sauce a bit, I found the recipe rather easy to follow (once I transcribed it from the video).  This was one of the absolute best eggplant recipes I have ever had.  And was a bit hit with guests.  Over all, none of the steps are complicated and the end result is an impressive dish.  The key is to do all your prep beforehand so that you can smoothly go from prepping and roasting the eggplant slices to the sauce to the cheese mixture to the rolls.


Yield: 4-6 servings

Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngU9ke0ykNc