Cocktail-style Chicken Meatballs with Cranberry Chutney
I'm still here! But also with a puppy...
No, Rad Dishes hasn’t fallen off the face of the earth completely (yet). It’s been a busy couple of months, as I’m sure it has been for many of you. This pandemic is still weird and unpredictable, and it seems like it’s time to be extra careful again, but we’re figuring it out and finding ways to stay occupied and at least a little cheerful as safely as possible. But the main reason I’ve been busy is… we did THE pandemic thing and got a puppy. That’s right, meet Gizmo:
Gizmo is a Mini Australian Shepherd and as expected, mischievous. He is entering his teething phase and is therefore intent on chewing a hole in my dish towels, my pants, cushions, curtains… and as one can expect, it’s all very time-consuming. I am lucky to still be working from home at least a little longer, but I have no idea how people did this puppy thing in the era of going to the office five days a week.
So I think you can forgive me for not keeping up with this whole “monthly newsletter” thing, though I fully admit that I now consider it “monthlyish.”
Despite being busier than ever, I’ve had some time to mess with recipes over the past few weeks. And I recently had the chance to make some food while spending time with my oldest friends. So here goes…
RECIPE: Cocktail-Style Chicken Meatballs (read on for Cranberry Chutney details)
My friends and I gathered for a longstanding annual holiday celebration (after doing it virtually last year). Last Thanksgiving, even though just two of us were marking the occasion at home, I made a ton of sides — and one of those was a cranberry chutney recipe I had tweaked ever so slightly. I wanted to make it again, and I decided chicken meatballs were a good accompaniment. I doubled and adjusted the ingredients for this “meatballs with any meat” recipe from NYT Cooking, opted to bake them, and used a cookie scoop to get them just the size I wanted. The end result is an easy party snack… or maybe something you’d make for a full meal. All I know is these meatballs allow for flexibility and actually had me ready to greet my guests on time, instead of rushing around an hour after their arrival.
(Sidenote: This may be a recipe to hold onto when we face less uncertain times, but I thought I’d share it anyway)
Ingredients
2 pounds ground chicken
2 eggs
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pepper (according to preference)
2 teaspoons garlic powder*
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Around 1/2 cup minced onion
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the ingredients so that they’re mixed uniformly. Roll the meatballs individually or use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop to shape and portion them out. The cookie scoop ultimately yielded 34 meatballs for me.
Place the meatballs on the baking sheets, then pop them in the oven for about 15 to 17 minutes until done (a meat thermometer is helpful here).
Notes
* I’m normally a fan of fresh garlic, but the garlic powder is such a time saver. You can always swap in a handful of fresh cloves that are minced, though.
Adapted from Melissa Clark in NYT Cooking.
+ Cranberry Chutney
I’ve followed the recipe from Mel’s Kitchen pretty faithfully both times I’ve made this chutney, but I opted to halve the quantity both times and also used frozen cranberries. I worried this wouldn’t be enough chutney for my meatballs, but I did end up with some leftover in my fridge, so it should be enough to complement the meat. I will note that I skipped the Granny Smith apple the first time, but used it this time. Both versions are delicious.
Ingredients
10 ounce bag of frozen cranberries (give them a little time to thaw)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1/4 cup chopped Granny Smith apple after peeling and coring (optional)
1/4 cup minced celery
Recipe
Combine the frozen and dried cranberries in a saucepan, in addition to white sugar, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and cloves, ginger, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until your berries start to make popping sounds. (This took me a bit more than the 5-7 minutes suggested in the recipe, but I currently have an electric stove and adjust expectations accordingly).
Add onion, celery — plus apple, if using. Then allow the mixture to cook, stirring from time to time, until it begins to thicken (this can take 5 to 10 minutes).
Transfer to a different container and allow the chutney to cool a little. Refrigerating overnight allows the flavors to blend well together.
Food for Thought
I did make a little junk food for our shindig — these Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction. First time I’ve bought boxed cake mix in a while! I’m also thinking about making the Smitten Kitchen Gingerbread Snacking Cake sometime soon.
Bites of Culture
Honestly, I’m so behind on everything. My one-and-only theatrical outing of the year was to see Dune in IMAX (I predictably loved it). I have finally caught up on all of Get Back and the longtime Beatles fan in me… loved it.
I have been feeling very mixed about a lot of the books I’ve been reading (a theme this year), but I am currently reading Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and do like it so far, so I’m optimistic about that one.
Thanks for reading this edition of Rad Dishes! You can follow me on my occasionally updated Instagram account. A streamlined version of Rad Dishes (the original food blog) is here.
Earlier Newsletters
Strawberry and blueberry clafoutis
Indian-ish nachos, an adaptation