Hi, this recipe is half my own and half BBC Goodfood's. They had the chicken meatball recipe but with a cheese (ricotta if you were wondering) sauce. But, because I prefer tomato sauce, I put my own spin the original recipe. Personally, I think this recipe went pretty well, the meatballs held their shape and I managed to get a nice flavour in them. I definitely think that cooking them for 15mins more in the tomato sauce, after being browned, while the pasta was cooking, really helped. 1) The sauce got a nicer chicken flavour in it and 2) the meatballs cooked all the way through. From just browning them, I noticed that not all were completely cooked, hence adding it to the sauce early. So, that is something I recommend you do too. My sister found the meatballs too lemony, so if you aren't too keen on lemon zest just do half a lemon. Note that no-one else in my family found this, so it may be just her personal taste. If you don't have spaghetti, use another type of pasta, honestly it will all work well. The same goes for the veg, no beans? Use something else! This recipe is really adaptable to suit whatever you have currently. Enjoy!
Dietary Info:
-Unsuitable for Vegans and Vegetarians
{In place of chicken breasts, use a vegan mince meat alternative. Co-op does a nice one. For the egg, use a tbsp of oil to bind. Lastly, in place of the milk, use a plant-based one.}
-Contains Dairy
{Use a plant based milk e.g. soya or almond.}
-No Nuts
-Contains Gluten
{Use a chickpea based pasta, any shape, or whatever G-F pasta you can find. And instead of 'normal' bread, use a G-F loaf, any will work fine.}
-Main Meal
Serves: 4
Takes: 40mins {Took me closer to an hour}
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Ingredients:
-2 chicken breasts {Alternatively use chicken mince.}
-1 lemon, zested
-1 + 1/2 tbsp parsley, chopped {I used 1tbsp oregano and 1/2tbsp rosemary (dried).}
-150g fresh breadcrumbs {This is about 2 and 1/2 or 3 and a 1/2 slices of bread, I forgot to write it down this time, so it is one of the two. But, it at least gives you a general idea. To make fresh breadcrumbs, tear your sliced bread in half and place in a food processor, blend, until crumbly. Or you can rip up each individual piece of bread into small pieces, takes longer but achieves round about the same result.}
-2tbsp whole milk
-1 medium egg, beaten
-25g plain flour, for dusting {Any flour works well here, I used strong white bread flour as that was what was immediately in front of me in the cupboard. You could use self raising or brown flour if that's what you have in too.}
-1tbsp olive oil {I used ground nut oil, any neutral oil works well here.}
-300g spaghetti {I used 200g.}
-320g green beans, trimmed and halved {I didn't bother with halving them, though I did trim the ends. Make sure to wash the beans before boiling them. Also, I used only 220g as that was how large one packet was for me.}
-Jar of tomato pasta sauce {I used Tesco tomato and onion pasta sauce. I added a bit of dried basil (about 1tbsp) and roughly 2/3rds a jarful of water to loosen the sauce.}
Method:
1: Cut the chicken into very small pieces using a sharp knife. {I chopped, not blended.} You can use a food processor, but pulse so it doesn’t turn into a paste. Put in a bowl and add the lemon zest, the parsley, the breadcrumbs and mix together. Add the 2tbsp milk, the egg and a good pinch of seasoning. {Salt and peppe.r} Mix again. {I would use your hands here for the mixing, really squish the parts together until it is all combined. If the meat mixture is crumbling apart and not binding together properly, add another egg or a splash of milk. Even cream cheese would work as a good binding agent.}
2: Dust a plate lightly with flour. Wet your hands, take a golf ball-sized piece of the meatball mixture and roll into a ball. Set on the floured plate and repeat until all the mixture has been used up. {Take into account how many people you are serving, you don't want one person with 4 meatballs and another with 5!}
3: Heat a heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat, add the oil, then the meatballs, ensuring they don’t touch each other. Cook for 10-15 mins, turning so they brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate. {Pour in the tomato sauce once they are all browned. Bring to a boil. This is going to simmer and boil while the pasta cooks. It was finish off cooking the inside of the meatballs that maybe haven't yet been reached. Add water to the sauce when it gets a little dry.}
4: Meanwhile, heat a large pan of salted {I didn't salt it} water and add the linguine. Cook following pack instructions, and 3mins before the end of the cooking time, add the green beans. {I added 4mins onto cooking time for the beans, don't worry if the timing goes a bit wrong like mine did this time, it won't matter too much in the end.} Drain. {Using tongues serve 1/4 of the spaghetti and beans onto each plate.}
5: {Remove the meatballs and sauce from the heat and spoon 1/4 onto each plate atop the spaghetti, try to get it in the middle for a nice look, don't worry if it doesn't work. Serve with grated cheese on the top if you wish.}
While you're here, I have a Pinterest for all my recipes where you can save them to boards for the future and categorise them into different types of recipe e.g Sunday Dinners, picnic ideas etc. My account is @hazellikestocook, or find the link below. Also, I have a whole blog post explaining this in more detail here and https://hazelscookingandbakingblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/pinterest.html.
https://pin.it/5xDvARk - my profile
This recipe : https://pin.it/3X4QE0t
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