Meatballs Part II

I feel like a real slacker lately, not giving you, Dear Readers, a wealth of new recipes in the last few weeks.  Lady Sally and I have been doing our summer travel and eating out a lot.   There will be lots more good things coming, so stay tuned.

 Last weekend Sally's daughter Holly made a flying visit for the 4th weekend, on her way from DC  to Houston for work, and joined us on Sanibel Island, one of our favorite local off season  getaways.  Friday evening we went to dinner at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille, one of our favorite places; named for the main character of local author and co-owner Randy Wayne White's main novel series set on Sanibel and the coastal waters here.  

Sally and I had seafood, and Holly had a monster serving of Prime Rib.  Sally's take on the new Oriental Panko Crusted Grouper was that it wasn't very "oriental" flavored, and the panko-crusting would have been better had it not been dissolved in the sauce poured over all.    I had the new Yucatan Shrimp Tacos which,  flavor-wise were fabulous, but presentation-wise should have been served in three tortillas rather than two far-too-over-filled rounds which fell apart as soon as you picked them up and tried to take a bite.

I don't normally recommend having beef at a seafood place or chicken at a burger joint, but Doc's usually does both the surf-y and the turf-y bits up right.  That evening we watched the wonderful movie Paddington Bear, and Holly had her first experience of a Mamey Sapote Smoothie, courtesy of the Kilted Cook and his mighty blender -- mamey fruit, Greek yogurt and half & half.

This year marked Sanibel Island's 25th July 4th parade.  A really nice 'down home' kind of parade and celebration on the morning of the 4th.  We had a great view from the start of the parade route.  After a hard day on the beach, between a gourmet cold cut lunch by yours and a power nap,  we went to another island favorite, George & Wendy's Seafood Grill.  Their seafood is always excellent, and Holly says the half-pound burger was pretty alright too.  Sally had the Bleu Cheese Encrusted Salmon, while I opted for the Grouper Francaise, both of which were outstanding.

So here's you Kilted Cook recipe for the week.  When we go home yesterday afternoon, I went to the megamart to get a few things for Sally in the week as well as our dinner last night.  When I got back from the store, it was time to take Holly to the airport to catch her flights to Houston so she could be at work this morning.

Chicken Falafel Meatballs

If you want to make these look more "falafel like" you could roll the formed meatballs in additional Garbanzo Flour, Falafel mix, or even Panko, and then pan or deep fry the result in oil.  But these were pretty darn tasty just as-is, and healthier to boot.  

The "sauteeing in buttered water" technique wasn't something I'd tried before, but it worked very well.

1 pound ground Chicken

3/4 cup Garbanzo Flour or prepared Falafel Mix

1/3 cup minced fresh Parsley

3 Tbsp cold Butter cut into very small pieces

1 Egg yolk

3 Tbsp Greek Yogurt

1 tsp Garam Masala spice blend

1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

3/4 to 1 cup of Water, plus

3 tablespoons of Butter

Mix the chicken, garbanzo flour or falafel mix, butter, egg yolk, yogurt, garam masala, cayenne pepper, salt and nutmeg; shape into balls of desired size. I made a dozen, about 1.5" in diameter.

Heat water and the 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Add the meatballs to simmer; shaking and gently turning often to prevent sticking and promote complete cooking, until all of the water cooks away and the meatballs are browned a bit. 

Broiled Eggplant

As you can see, I served the meatballs with grilled eggplant -- slices about 3/4" thick, drizzled with some wonderful virgin Avocado Oil I'd been gifted, then dusted with oregano and cumin. Broil on high about 5 minutes each side.

An even better accompaniment to the Falafel Chicken Meatballs would be a nice Greek Salad or something similar. 

You could also serve them with pitas for MIY sandwiches dressed with hummus, yogurt-dill sauce, raita, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, etc.  There's always next time....