Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

If you are looking for a great meatball recipe bursting with flavor that works equally as well as an appetizer or stirred into a fresh tomato sauce, this is it! 

Our star ingredient, the feta, adds salt, sure, but also creaminess and a little tang, along with the yogurt. For a while there, these meatballs were on regular rotation at our house. It’s been a while though so I’ll be making them again soon. We love them!

Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

This recipe makes about 45 bite-size meatballs. I use a small 2 tablespoon scoop which makes them so easy to portion and roll. This recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. 

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g feta

Small bunch fresh cilantro (mine weighed about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)

¼ cup or 50g old-fashioned rolled oats

1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt

2 small hot chili peppers

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 pound ground chicken (or sub ground turkey or pork)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon

Method

Wash the cilantro thoroughly and spin dry. Pinch off the hard stems and discard. Set aside 1/2 for sprinkling on when serving.

Chop your chili peppers and garlic and put them in a food processor with the other half of the cilantro. Process until finely chopped. 

Crumble your feta and set aside about 1/4 to sprinkle on for serving. Put the rest in a large mixing bowl and stir in the chopped cilantro mixture.

Mix in the oats along with the yogurt and salt.

Add the ground chicken, gently combining until you have a homogenous mixture.

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and prepare a baking pan by greasing it with the olive oil. For easy clean up, I like to line my pan first with heavy duty foil.

Use a scoop or a tablespoon to separate the chicken mixture in bite-sized pieces and place them on the prepared baking pan. Use damp (or oiled) hands to roll them into little balls. 

Bake the meatballs in your preheated oven until the bottoms are browned and the centers are no longer pink, 15 to 18 minutes.

Squeeze one half of the lemon over the pan, then use a wooden spoon to move the meatballs around, turning the browned side up, and scraping up any browned bits on the pan. 

Transfer to a serving plate and top with the reserved feta and cilantro. Cut the remaining lemon half into wedges and serve at the table for squeezing on top.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the sixth installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024. Today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter F. Many thanks to our challenge creator, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm. 

Check out all the recipes brought to you by the letter F:

• Sneha’s Recipe: French Beans Fry - Andhra Style 
• Culinary Cam: Fennel, Potato, and Petrale Sole Gratin
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken Fajita Bowl
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Fruity Baked Oatmeal
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Turkish Fig Pudding
• Blogghetti: Homemade Fajita Seasoning
• Palatable Pastime: Fake Fatty Pastrami
• Food Lust People Love: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
• Magical Ingredients: Fava Fennel Paratha
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Butternut Squash Soup with French Herbes

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggpland Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs - Today's post!

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Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad

Feta and strawberry tabouli salad is a great twist on a Middle Eastern favorite. Juicy ripe strawberries brighten the salad, adding color and a welcome sweetness. This is one salad that’s just as good as leftovers!

As much as I love a traditional tabouli salad (which is A LOT!) it’s also fun to mix things up and put a new spin on an old favorite. Adding fresh strawberries was inspired by the fancy salads we enjoy with not only greens but also fruit, nuts and cheese. In this case, the nutty-flavored bulgur wheat is standing in for actual nuts. 

On a completely different subject, let’s talk about the first ingredient, a thing I like to call purple onion. In most recipes it is referred to as red onion or Spanish onion but since my first encounter with same as a child, I’ve called it purple onion. Because it is purple! This is my tiny hill and I am prepared to defend it. 

A Google search quickly revealed that in some European countries it is indeed called purple onion and now I want to know where. Annoyingly, Wikipedia didn’t say. Even BBC Food had the nerve to describe the onion thusly, “Red onions are an attractive, milder alternative to the yellow onion with their shiny purple skin.” Purple. That’s right. 

Have I convinced anyone? Join me on the purple side. It’s more accurate over here. Plus I have tasty salad.

Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad

For aesthetic reasons, I chose to use yellow cherry tomatoes for this festive salad. If you only have red ones, no worries. The flavor is what really matters. 

Ingredients

For the dressing:

1/2 medium purple onion, sliced very thinly (about 2 1/2 oz or 70g)

2 tablespoons or 30ml fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup or 60ml extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

1 cup or 210g bulgur wheat (3 1/4 cups or 615g when soaked and drained)

1 bunch green onions, just the green part, chopped (about 11/4 oz or 35g)

1 very large bunch (about 5 1/3 oz or 150g) cilantro

8 oz or 227g yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

14 oz or 400g strawberries, hulled and quartered

7 oz or 200g feta, crumbled (I prefer the sheep’s milk type.)

 

Method

In metal or heatproof bowl, cover your bulgur wheat with 1 3/4 cups or 414ml of boiling water and cover the bowl with an upside down plate or some cling film. Set aside. 

Put your thinly sliced onions in a large bowl and pour the lime juice over them. Sprinkle with the salt. Add a few good grinds of fresh black pepper. 

Let the onions marinate in the lime juice for a few minutes. This helps reduced their pungency and sharpness. Now mix in the olive oil. 

Chop your green onions finely and set aside. 

Cut the hard stalks off of the cilantro and discard.  (The tender, narrow stalks near the leaves are fine to leave in.) Wash the cilantro thoroughly several times and dry in a salad spinner or a dry dishcloth.  Chop it roughly. 

Once the bulgur wheat has absorbed all of the water it can, drain it in a strainer and push down on the top to get rid of any excess water. 

Fluff it with fork and leave it to cool. 

Now we can assemble the strawberry tabouli. Add the halved tomatoes to the dressing first. 

Tip in the cooled bulgur wheat, the green onions and cilantro and mix well to coat the wheat with the dressing.

Finally, add the strawberries and feta and toss gently to combine. This tabouli gets better and better as it sits so you can make it ahead without any problems.  

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and my friends and I are sharing side dishes for your Easter table. Anything that isn’t a main course qualified so we’ve got you covered from appetizer to dessert! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Bunny Cupcakes from Amy’s Cooking Adventures 
• Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad from Food Lust People Love 
• Fresh Pea Hummus from Culinary Cam
• Pineapple Bread Pudding from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Pork Sorpatel - East Indian from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Potato Salad with Condensed Milk from Palatable Pastime 
• Stir-Fried Balsamic and Ginger Glazed Carrots from Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
• Veggie Niçoise Salad from Mayuri’s Jikoni 
• Whole Wheat Rosemary Garlic Bread Recipe from The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp

Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp are exactly what they sound like: Cherry tomatoes filled with seasoned feta and topped with shrimp make one of the prettiest, easiest appetizers you can serve.

I'd like to tell you that I made this with football games in mind but, truthfully, it was a great snack for taking on the sailboat.  I popped them in a small container and put it in the cooler with the cold beverages. Finger food and appetizers are great for picnics or celebrations of any kind!

Ingredients
14 oz or 400g shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 14 medium sized)
Olive oil
14 cherry tomatoes
3 1/2 oz or 100g goat milk feta cheese
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
Small bunch green onions
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Gently sauté the shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil until just cooked.  Set aside to cool.  I cooked them with the tails still on then took them off.  It doesn't make a difference so you can just as easily take the tails off first.

Cut the tops off of your cherry tomatoes and run the knife around the inside to loosen the flesh.

Scoop the insides out.  I used my quarter teaspoon measuring spoon, which worked beautifully.  Discard the seeds.

Cut just a tiny slice of skin off the bottoms of the tomatoes so that they will stand upright.  Lay the tomatoes, hollow side down, on some paper towels.

Mince all but two or three of your green onions.  You'll need a few kept long for garnish.

Crumble your feta cheese in a small bowl, add in the yogurt, the minced green onion and a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Fill the tomatoes with the seasoned feta.

Cut your remaining green onions into short lengths.  Poke a piece of green onion into the feta.

Put one shrimp on top of each filled tomato.  Press gently to stick the shrimp down.

Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Visit all the other Appetizer Week Blogs for more Snack Time Deliciousness:

• Meatball Bites by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Gluten Free Onion Butter Pretzels by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Crawfish Dip by Call Me PMc
• Low-Carb Shrimp Guacamole by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Bourbon Pulled Pork Sliders by Cooking in Stilettos
• Sun-dried Tomato Dip by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Sriracha Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Margherita Pizza Sticks by Makobi Scribe
• Chicken Parmesan Meatballs by Flavor Mosaic
• Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp by Food Lust People Love
• Ham and Sauerkraut Balls by From Gate to Plate
• Cheddar Cayenne Crackers by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Baked Pickle Chips by Lemons for Lulu
• Cheddar Cheese Olive Puffs by Life Off the Clock
• Manchego and Roasted Pepper Stuffed Mushrooms by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Restaurant-Style Chipotle Salsa by Home Cooking Memories
• Mango Jalapeno Sausage Rolls by Food Done Light
• Ham & Cheese Mini Cracker Sandwiches by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Spicy Cheese Rounds by Try Anything Once Culinary
• Low Sodium Chicken Stuffed jalapeno Poppersby Cookerati

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