My inspiration is from Everyday Food. They had a recipe for Spaghetti and Chicken Parmesan meatballs which I made Sunday night. I had leftovers so Monday we had sliders. Can I just say that the leftovers are almost better than the original? If I can, then I will say it. The leftovers ARE better! Italian food really does taste better the next day. Here's the recipe. Prepare to get your hands dirty :)
First make the meatballs: (2 points plus each or 3 for two! I love that math sometimes)
1 pound ground chicken breast
1/2 skim milk
1 3/4 cups breadcrumbs, divided
1 egg white
1/4 c fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
4 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed in 1/2 inch cubes
2 T olive oil
Prepare 1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs and the parmesan cheese in a shallow bowl. Mix it well, tell it you love it and you'll be back later. Combine milk, 1/2 c breadcrumbs, egg white, spinach and a little salt & pepper if you want. Note on spinach: you don't have to have it. You could do a little parsley instead. But this is a great way to sneak in some vegetables so your kids/husband won't notice. You won't really taste the spinach. Having it bulks up the meatball a bit too so it feels like you're eating more. I say put it in. Mix it really well. It will be a pasty doughy thing. Now add the chicken. Once the chicken joins the party you don't want to handle it too much or you'll have tough meatballs. And tough meatballs are not tasty. Once it's mixed, take a tablespoon sized cookie scoop (if you're lucky enough to have one. Hint hint.) or just eyeball it and use your hands and form a little ball. Once it's ballish enough, stick a cube of cheese inside then kind of seal it off with the chicken mixture. This will be messy. You will get sticky and gross but it's worth it. You probably wouldn't get so sticky if you had a really good cookie scoop. Also, note that it's not going to be a firm meatball like a ground beef one would be. These are soft and delicate. Drop the meatball in breadcrumb/parm mixture and roll it around until it's covered. Then place it on a cookie sheet and continue with the rest of the 24 meatballs or so. Depending on how big you make them, this should yeild about 2 dozen meatballs.
Heat a non-stick or cast iron pan then add oil. When it's hot, brown the meatballs about 8 at a time depending on the size of your pan. When they're brown, place them on a paper towel-lined plate or cookie sheet (NOT the same one you put raw chicken on). Finish browning then put in a non-stick foil lined cookie sheet and bake in the oven on 350 for about 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Trust me on the non-stick foil. When they're done they are crusty on the outside and moist and gooey on the inside. Sometimes the cheese bursts out a little bit while baking and that is so stinking good! Making sure you have non-stick foil.
You can serve these meatballs with spaghetti and sauce that night or freeze them or just put them in the fridge til the next night. It's up to you.
To make the sliders:
Buy a bag of dinner rolls. I decided to get fancy and made some Rhode's Rolls (using the fast method. I'm not that fancy.) and bake til they're done. Most of the points (5) are in these rolls so if you wanted to cut some points out, change your bread. I have 2 bags of 36 rolls in my freezer so I used that. Do what you'd like! I literally microwaved the meatballs which is probably a crime and you should probably bake them again but the microwave worked just fine and I have no regrets! To build the sandwich I spread tomato sauce (can of Hunt's) on both sides of a sliced roll and topped it with a meatball and a piece of mozzarella cheese (1/2 ounce). I popped it back in the microwave for about 30 seconds just for the cheese to melt. You could omit the cheese since there's some in the meatball, but hey, live a little. You could probably add a little fresh basil leaf or something too if you're fancy, but I'm microwaving here and that's about as nice as things are going to get.
Serve with potato chips. Which will be next week's recipe.
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