The premise of this column is to show you easy methods to make a scrumptious single-serving dinner. Take into account these tender, herby rooster meatballs a terrific exception.
The fantastic thing about these meatballs, that are cooked in a dead-simple tomato sauce, is that they are often repurposed into a couple of totally different meals.
I prefer to serve some over polenta the night time of after which use them later within the week in quite a lot of methods: tossed in pasta, sliced on a sub-style sandwich with melted mozzarella, even served for breakfast over rice with a fried egg. The sauce ensures that the meatballs don’t dry out if you reheat them, which you are able to do gently in a skillet or saucepan. They usually freeze and defrost significantly nicely, too, if you wish to hold extras available to eat down the road.
Begin by drizzling a small little bit of extra-virgin olive oil onto 1 / 4 sheet tray or giant plate. Then finely chop â…“ cup of flat-leaf parsley, bigger stems eliminated. (This will likely be nearly everything of a small head, one other bonus when you typically end up with wilted herbs on the backside of your crisper.)
Whisk 1 giant egg, ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs, ⅓ cup of grated Parmesan, 1 clove of grated garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt, some freshly cracked black pepper, and the parsley in a medium bowl. Add 1 pound of floor rooster (floor turkey works, too) and blend the whole lot collectively along with your fingers.
Subsequent, grease your fingers with a little bit of that olive oil from the sheet tray or plate. It will make it simpler to type the meatballs. Roll every clump between your palms in order that it’s about two inches in diameter. Place them one after the other onto the tray. You need to find yourself with a few dozen.
At this level, I like to stay the meatballs within the fridge for a couple of minutes whereas I clear up the kitchen. They’re fairly moist, so even that quick quantity of cooling time will assist keep their form as you fry them.
Place a big stainless-steel skillet over medium and let it get sizzling. Pour in sufficient olive oil to flippantly coat the underside and let that warmth up for a couple of minutes. Add the meatballs and prepare dinner them for 10 to 12 minutes, turning a couple of instances, till they’re browned throughout.
Push the meatballs to 1 facet of the skillet, decrease the warmth to medium-low, and dump in a 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with salt (a activity made simpler with the meatballs now out of the best way). Only a pinch ought to do it. Give the tomatoes a stir after which redistribute the whole lot in order that the sauce and meatballs mingle. Let this simmer for 15 to twenty minutes. If the bubbles are too ferocious, flip down the warmth a smidge.
Tomato sauce doesn’t want a lot to be wonderful. Simply consider Marcella Hazan’s iconic model, made with solely salt, butter, and an onion. Right here, I do even much less: Simply the quick period of time it simmers with the meatballs will make it a lot delectable. It’ll get saltier and meatier because it cooks, taking over among the browned bits from the underside of the skillet.
If you wish to eat these with polenta — which I extremely really helpful — begin cooking the grain proper earlier than you dive into the meatballs. All the pieces must be achieved across the identical time. (A ratio of ¼ cup of polenta to 1 cup of water is ideal for a real single serving, with a beneficiant pinch of salt and a knob of butter added on the finish.)
However nonetheless you serve them, know there will likely be extra tomorrow.
Emma Wartzman is the kitchen and eating author at New York Journal’s the Strategist.
Further picture illustration credit: bowl picture by Emma Wartzman