Chicken Meatballs Piccata

This will be one of my first blog posts that I actually used one of the 90+ cookbooks that I own. Yes I have a "collecting" problem but we don't have to talk about that right now. I bought this one recently too (the title caught my eye) - I love meatballs of all kinds!

I decided to make pasta alongside these meatballs (even though they are not ordinary) for two reasons: 1) I love pasta and will use any excuse to eat it and 2) I knew the sauce in this recipe was going to be luscious and tangy all at the same time. Boy was I right about that! It was delicious with the lemon juice and the capers... MMMHH - I couldn't eat enough of the sauce, I made sure I had some with every bite. Of course I spoiled myself and had a glass of white wine with this meal as well.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/2 cup seasoned Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 1/4 lbs ground chicken or turkey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup small capers, drained and rinsed
Vegetable oil spray

1) Preheat the oven broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil, and spray the foil with vegetable oil spray.

2) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes, or until onion is translucent. While vegetables cook, whisk egg and milk in a mixing bowl, add breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons parsley and Italian seasoning, and mix well.

3) Add 1/2 of vegetable mixture and chicken to the mixing bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper, and mix well again. Make mixture into 1 1/2 inch meatballs, and arrange meatballs on the prepared pan. Spray tops of meatballs with vegetable oil spray.

4) Broil meatballs 6 inches from the broiler element, turning them with tongs to brown all sides.

5) While meatballs brown, add butter to the vegetables remaining in the skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Whisk in stock and lemon juice, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Stir in remaining parsley and capers, and simmer 3 minutes, uncovered.

6) Remove meatballs from the baking pan with a slotted spoon, and add meatballs to sauce. Bring to a boil, and simmer meatballs, covered, over low heat, turning occasionally with a slotted spoon, for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and no longer pink. Serve immediately.

Tutti Mangia!