February 22, 2015 | 0 Comments

Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls with Blue Cheese Dressing

Back in November 2014, I came across a charming bookstore called Bookbook as I explored Bleecker Street in New York. I didn’t know until afterwards that it is quite a well-known spot (right across from the cool David’s Tea house – another cool spot with an amazing loose leaf tea collection).

In the age of online bookstores, Bookbook and its quaint setup felt like a breath of fresh-air. Well… that and also because I have a soft spot for independent bookstores by default. To me wandering around rows of bookshelves, flipping through selections of new and used books makes it feels as if time stops still in that moment. This is an experience that you cannot get from online bookstores. Such was the case, and as usual I spent an additional 30-minute in the cookbooks section. I found my most recent favourite cookbook there – second hand and all – “The Meatball Shop Cookbook” for a handsome price of $12.98 before tax.

These past couple of weeks I found myself trying about 10 of the recipes in the book where each and every single one of them was a great success. Some recipes made it to the #Weekly_Canteen customers, and some were devoured by myself and friends who were hanging out at the MyOrangePot.com’s HQ. I am so enamored by the recipes that I found it appropriate to treat myself to a new kitchen gadget and that is a KitchenAid food grinder!

So here I am, on a dreary Sunday afternoon with my two new favorite things in tow, sharing with you a new party favour awesomeness. Believe me, make this and your party will start off in a great note!

Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls

Adapted from The Meatball Shop Cookbook

Ingredients

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup sriracha sauce or any hot sauce of your choice
450 grams ground chicken, prefer thigh meat
1 large egg
½ celery stalk, minced
¾ cup plain bread crumbs (actually you can also use Italian bread crumbs)
1 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 230C. Drizzle the olive oil on a 23cm x 33cm roast pan, use your hand/paper towel to evenly coat the surface of the pan (or you can also use an olive oil spray)
Combine the butter and sriracha sauce in a small saucepan. Heat it up on the stove with medium heat and stir until the butter is melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat and let sit to cool down for about 10 minutes
Using a wooden spoon and your hand (as necessary): combine the chicken, egg, celery, bread crumbs and salt in a large bowl and add the sauce created in step 2 into the mixture.
Roll the mixture into round 2 cm diameter balls, making sure to pack the meat firmly. I took about 1 generous tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball by hand. Place the balls in the prepare roast pan dish (step 1), snugly line them up and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.
Roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball should read 70C (165F).
Allow meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in the roast pan before serving. Great to go with some Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe below)

Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients: