Baked Chicken Patties

I tweaked an Italian "polpette" recipe a bit for these baked chicken patties/meatballs. The original recipe called for beef instead of chicken and was a very basic meatball recipe: using only milk soaked bread, egg and meat, then topped with tomatoes, mozzarella and anchovies. I added onions and garlic and modified the seasoning az well: instead of fresh oregano I used dried Herbes the Provence (Italian seasoning works just as well).

In this process, I think I've found the secret to the best (juicy and flavorful) meatballs... It's onion, lots of it (and garlic, of course).

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 medium yellow onions or 4 shallots

1 slice of white bread, crust removed

4 tbs milk

1 large egg
2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tbs breadcrumbs for the meat

1/2 cup breadcrumbs for dusting the meatballs

Olive oil for frying

2 large ripe and juicy tomatoes

fresh mozzarella

1 can anchovies

About 1 tbs Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently heat the milk with the bread, until all milk is absorbed by the bread. Let cool slightly. Chop the garlic, bread and onions in a food processor then mix them together with the meat, 1 egg, 2 tbs olive oil, 2 tbs breadcrumbs, 1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper. Shape the mixture into medium sized patties. Spread the remaining breadcrumbs on to a plate, and roll the patties in them to coat thoroughly.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and fry the patties for about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the patties into a greased baking dish, and top each of them with one slice of tomato. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence, then place the mozzarella slices on top, then finish with one-two strips of anchovy. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is starting to brown. Serve hot with mashed potatoes and a mixed salad.

Serves 6.

Tricolore Salad

Our friend Aniko introduced us to one of our favorite "Italian" dishes: the so called Tricolore Salad with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and avocado. I guess you can't really call this an Italian salad, because of the avocados, but it's probably adapted from a basic Italian salad, the Mozzarella Caprese, and you can find it in some Italian Cookbooks, too. For the past six years or so, we've served this salad at least once a week for dinner, with or without a soup as starter.

This is a very simple recipe, with only a few ingredients, and it's success lies in the quality of the ingredients.

What you need:
2-3 campari tomatoes per person, sliced
1-1.5 fresh mozzarella bocconcini (bite size mozzarella), sliced
1/4 avocado per person, sliced
2-3 basil leaves per person
1 tablespoon top quality olive oil per serving
1 teaspoon top quality balsamic vinegar (optional) per serving
sea salt
black pepper
fresh ciabatta rolls


Preparation:

Place tomato slices on a plate, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. For this salad I would use some courser sea salt, it brings out the flavor of the tomatoes better. Also, ideally at this stage you should leave the salted tomatoes rest for 20 minutes, half an our, so the tomatoes would release their juices. I don't usually have time for this step, but the salad is still very flavorful without it, too. Until you finish putting the salad together, the tomatoes will release enough of their juices.

  

After 20 minutes, put one slice of mozzarella on each tomato slice, then top it with a slice of avocado. Garnish with basil leaves, drizzle with olive oil and (optionally) with balsamic vinegar. We usually serve this salad without the vinegar, it's a question of personal preference. Serve it with very fresh ciabatta bread and black or green olives (also optional). My husband, Peter likes some red pesto with it, that is not an option for me because of the dry rosemary.

If your ciabatta bread is not very  fresh, here's a trick I learned in communist Romania 25 years ago, when fresh bread wasn't always available. Pat down the uncut day old ciabatta rolls with your wet hands, until they're slightly wet all over, then bake the rolls in the preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. They will come out fresh and crispy. I do this even with fresh ciabatta bought in the morning, there's nothing like the warm, crisp crusted ciabatta for mopping up the juices from the plate. Enjoy!