#15 - Cookbook Sneak Peek Chicken Meatballs + 'Nduja Braised Meatballs with Mash
The Meatball Edition
Hello lovely subscribers!
As you may be aware, my debut book Tucking In: A Very Comforting Cookbook is coming out on June 13th, and whilst most of the recipes are still under lock and key until that time, I am really thrilled to be able to show you, my gorgeous subscribers, the first sneak peak of a recipe from the book.
If you like what you see here, then maybe you would consider pre-ordering the book. This is really important for first time authors, as it lets the booksellers know how many people want a book, and so helps them to decide how many copies they order. More copies ordered = more potential sales. So, if you enjoy my work and would like to support, you can pre-order the book here.
In the meantime, here are this week’s recipes, where we are focussing on one of my favourite things - MEATBALLS! One is for chicken and ricotta meatballs with green spaghetti, fresh from the pages of Tucking In. The other is for an indulgent, spicy number served up with mash, because meatballs are not just for pasta.
Sophie x
The Recipes
Chicken and Ricotta Meatballs with Green Spaghetti
Red sauce has dominated the meatball market for too long, and I say enough’s enough. Okay, I also love the classic tomato sauce and polpette combo, but there is something lighter and fresher about this version that I sometimes prefer. The leanness of chicken mince enriched with milky ricotta and Parmesan creates an impossibly tender little thing to stab with your fork and twirl around in a silky green spaghetti skirt. Maybe you’ll twirl around the kitchen a little, you’ll like it that much. The meatballs can be prepared a day in advance, so you can whip this up in no time.
Serves 4
400g skinless chicken thigh fillets
zest and juice of ½ lemon
250g ricotta
½ small bunch of parsley
70g fresh white breadcrumbs
80g Parmesan, plus 20g for sprinkling
100g watercress
small bunch of basil
50g sunflower seeds
1 garlic clove
400g spaghetti
salt, pepper and olive oil
Chop your chicken thigh fillets into pieces, then add these to a food processor. Add the lemon zest and 120g of the ricotta, as well as 1 teaspoon of salt and 15 twists of black pepper. Pulse until you have a smooth paste. Grate in 30g of your Parmesan, then finely chop your parsley and add this too, as well as your breadcrumbs. Give it a stir so it’s all combined.
Roll your mixture into 12 even-sized balls. Pop these on a tray, and place them in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.
Meanwhile, give your food processor a clean, then move on to making your pesto. In the food processor, combine the watercress, basil, sunflower seeds, peeled garlic clove and remaining 50g of Parmesan. Whizz it up to form a smooth green paste, then drizzle in 50ml of olive oil so that you have a smooth sauce. Add the lemon juice and the remaining ricotta, pulse the machine briefly, then season to taste with salt.
Bring a large saucepan filled with water to the boil, and season it with salt as though it were a soup you were about to eat.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Add your meatballs to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, turning them frequently so that they cook evenly and take on some colour on the outside.
Meanwhile, add your spaghetti to the pan of boiling water. Cook your pasta for a couple of minutes less than the packet instructions require, or until it is just al dente.
Once it’s cooked, tong your spaghetti directly into the meatball pan, along with a ladleful of the pasta cooking water. Add your pesto to the pan, and give it a good toss so that each strand of spaghetti is coated in the green sauce. Add as much pasta water as you need to get the sauce glossy. Adjust the seasoning if needed.
Divide the spaghetti and meatballs between plates, and serve it up with a little extra Parmesan.
Extracted from Tucking In by Sophie Wyburd (Ebury Press, £22) Photography by Lizzy Mayson
‘Nduja Braised Meatballs with Mash
Meatballs + pasta is very much the dominant pairing, but there is something immensely comforting about having a bowl of meatballs with a base of buttery mash. You could, of course, toss these meatballs and sauce with spaghetti, and it would also be pretty fabulous, but I urge you to give it a go with mash. It’s the perfect fuel for the last of the nippy winter days.
‘Nduja lends a bit of spice and funk to the party, and you can find it in lots of the bigger supermarkets and delis. Fear not if you can’t find it - just replace it with 1 tsp chilli paste or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes.
Here are my top tips for making good meatballs (warning - I am about to use the word moist a lot):
You need something moist + fatty to stop them from being dry. Egg works, as does ricotta, but the way I do it here is by mixing breadcrumbs with milk and grated onion.
Grating the onion is important because enormous chunks of onion are gross and distracting in a meatball, and also grating it releases lots of water which hydrates the breadcrumbs.
Use high fat content mince for moisture too!
The combination of pork and beef mince is important - the sweetness and mildness of the pork stops the beef from being a bit much, and also lends more fat to keep them moist.
Browning them gives caramelised flavour and structure to the meatballs, but you don’t want to overcook them at this stage. Poaching them in the sauce is what gives the middles soft texture, and stops them getting tough.
Serves 4