Chicken Parm Meatballs

My boyfriend is from the east coast, and one of his staples every time he goes home to visit is to grab a chicken parm sandwich at a local Connecticut deli. Unfortunately, classic Italian delis are few and far between here in AZ, and while I know I could never make one at home that would compare to his favorite, I did find a recipe which adds a twist on the chicken parm sandwich classic, this time in meatball form. I made cooking meatballs even easier by cooking them individually in muffin tins, making sure to get brown on all sides, and easier for clean up.

Chicken Parm Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lb. ground chicken
• 2 tbsp. onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used a slice of my homemade whole grain bread)
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 egg, whisked
• salt & pepper
• 1 14-oz can pizza sauce
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 4 oz. fresh mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, placing a rack near the top of the oven.

Combine all of the ingredients, except for the pizza sauce, oil, and mozzarella, in a medium bowl and mix well with your hands.

Make large balls with your hands and arrange them, one by one, in a muffin tin sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together the pizza sauce and the olive oil. Use a brush to rub the mixture on the meatballs. Put in the oven and make for 15 minutes.

When ready, take them out from the oven and add some pizza sauce on top of each meatball. Meanwhile, turn the heat up in the oven to broil.

Slice the mozzarella and place a slice on top of each pizza sauce covered meatball. Put the pan of meatballs back in the oven and broil for 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Remove the meatballs from the oven, serve warm with remaining pizza sauce.