Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

I have to admit. I think my meatball recipe is pretty much the best. Light, fluffy and delish. Always a hit at family gatherings or just for the two of us.

So why mess with something so perfect? Well, why not. Life is too short not to experiment with your tried and true recipes. Right?

Let me tell you what I usually do. I make my meatballs from ground chicken, a load of fresh challah crumbs (the secret to all things fluffier than a kitten) and plenty of eggs. My standard rule of thumb is the equation of one egg to one package (usually a pound) of ground chicken. I season the mixture with a bunch of stuff then heat up my sauce on the stove in a large pot, roll em’ and drop in the meatballs. Then I simmer the hell outta of them for 2 hours. Low and slow is how we go.

When I made THESE meatballs, I decided that I would try something a bit different. First of all, I rolled, then dredged them in “00” flour (a very light version of flour that you can use to make pasta). Then I heated a heavy, oven proof skillet with olive oil and dropped in a few meatballs just to brown them on all sides. You wanna know why I did this step? Because this ensured that the meat was nicely browned on all sides. It’s a bit of a pain to do but honestly, there’s nothing better than these two words – BROWN & CRUNCHY. I’m just imagining biting into one of these right now, it’s very late at night and thanks, now I’m hungry.

Then guess what I did? Ready?

I placed my tomato sauce directly into the skillet with the meatballs and transferred them to the oven to bake. I have really never baked my meatballs so I was a bit skeptical about how they would turn out.  There’s nothing uglier than a dry meatball.

Okay. Let me just say this. THEY WERE STELLAR. Just as light, fluffy and moist without the two hours of low and slow on the stove.

WAIT.

Did I mention what I added into the meatballs? F.G.P.C. (Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese) Wow. Just wow. What a great way to include a little bit of Italy into a recipe. And yes, I always ask Steve if I can use his cheese. What? It’s HIS CHEESE. Let me explain.

Steve has a bunch of customers who have been around since the 18th century. They are all still alive (barely). When he goes to their home to do a service call, nine times out of ten he leaves with a care package of something. This time it was a half a wheel of parmesan cheese. I kid you not. That cheese has been sitting in the fridge for months (maybe years) and nothing happens to it. In fact, it gets better with time. Like a fine wine.

If you are going to steal a piece of “his cheese”, you have to sign it out like a library book.

Steve’s rules. (Which I rarely abide by, but this time something told me to ask first because I’m positive he weighs his cheese before he goes to bed).

This meatball recipe has now become one of my favourite weeknight meals to serve over just about anything. To keep it low calorie, I went for spiralled and steamed zucchini noodles but the meatballs were the star of this show, that’s for dang sure.