Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

Meatballs are a very versatile food to use with a slow cooker. Whether you are serving meatballs and sauce at a party, or perhaps preparing a fresh pot of meatballs Swedish style or in a barbecue sauce, the slow cooker is a resourceful and easy-to-use kitchen appliance.

One of our favorite weekday meals is crispy baked meatballs, sans gravy or sauce (many of you may still prefer the more traditional frying method…either choice being perfectly fine). We recently decided to make baked meatballs on a day that we were also planning to head to a matinée movie with the kids. My original goal was to roll and bake the meatballs earlier in the day, and to reheat them in the oven when we returned home. Being a home cook who is always looking for new takes on the traditional, I started to wonder if and how I could put our slow cooker to use.

Normally, a slow cooker would be used to simmer a dish unattended at a low temperature as opposed to baking, boiling or frying. While you can use a slow cooker to prepare dry ingredients such as breads and cakes, a majority of slow cooker recipes incorporate some form of liquid, whether it is produced from a meat that is in the recipe or if the liquid is added by hand. Because the slow cooker operates at such a low temperature, the heated liquid helps the cooking process without actually burning off or evaporating.

However, the whole intention of making crispy baked meatballs was to enjoy them crispy, without having them simmer in a liquid or a sauce. If I were to put the already baked meatballs into a slow cooker without any additional liquid, I may risk having the meatballs dry out and/or burn. It’s doubtful that the already baked meatballs would produce enough juice to heat the meatballs without having them become too dry to enjoy. If I were to add liquid to the slow cooker, they may become soft and lose the desired crunchy taste and texture.

I needed to add something else to the pot that would either produce its own juices or would absorb any other liquid that I may have added, without the risk of having the meatballs turn soggy. The solution ended up being simple and practical. Because my family and I traditionally serve meatballs in Sunday Gravy, I decided to play off of the roots of the sauce ingredients and use grape tomatoes tossed with olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper, along with a half cup of broth. By adding the seasoned tomatoes to the bottom of the slow cooker, I now had a bed for the meatballs to sit on without having them come in contact with the broth at the bottom of the slow cooker. The broth would heat up and cause enough moisture in the slow cooker to keep the dish hot, without having to worry about the meatballs soaking in the broth and becoming mushy and losing the desired crunch factor.

Another plus to this solution was that we also ended up with a nice warm tomato salad to serve on the side. Not only was this solution easy and efficient, it also added a rich and flavorful coating to the exposed portions of the meatballs, with no lose of crunch appeal. Of course, you can use a number of different vegetables to achieve the vegetable bed. Seasoned zucchini or squash, or a combination with grape or cherry tomatoes would all work well.

Winner, winner, meatball dinner!

Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

• 12-15 baked or fried meatballs (follow your favorite meatball recipe)
• 1 small container of grape or cherry tomatoes (zucchini and/or yellow squash would also work well)
• 1/2 cup broth (beef, chicken or vegetable would all work)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• Italian seasoning (optional)

Lightly drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and the chopped basil. Toss to evenly coat. Place the seasoned tomatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Place the cooked meatballs on top. Pour the broth over the meatballs. Season with additional Italian seasoning if you prefer. Set the slow cooker to low for 6-7 hours. Serve the meatballs along side the cooked tomatoes and enjoy!

Escarole-Wrapped Chicken Meatballs

Growing up in an Italian-American family meant that most major holiday dinners would start off with a soup course. The soup of choice was most likely escarole soup, which is a chicken broth based soup containing carrots, mini meatballs and escarole, sometimes with the addition of acini di pepe pasta. You may also know this soup as Italian Wedding Soup, Italian Holiday Soup, or if you grew up in my old neighborhood you would simply call it S’cadole.

A few years back, when we started our mid-year Memorial Day Friendsgiving dinner tradition with our friends Chrissy, Carl and Lucas, I thought it would be fun to somehow incorporate the spirit and flavor of escarole soup into our menu without actually serving a bowl of piping hot soup on a seasonally warm early summer day. My solution to this was to compact all of the ingredients of the soup – sautéed carrots, celery and onions, chicken, meatballs, broth and escarole – and make a chicken meatball that was seasoned with the carrots, celery and onions, wrapped in boiled escarole leaves. This reimagined version of escarole soup was the perfect compromise for representing a traditional holiday dish during a not-so-traditional time of year.

Of course, this recipe is by no means intended to take the place of a holiday dish that is as traditional and enjoyable as escarole soup. Some traditions are just not meant to be tampered with. However, if you are looking for an alternative to a soup course – especially one that works well as an appetizer and also has the flavors of this traditional and classic soup – then this recipe is one that would work well for your holiday meal!

Escarole-Wrapped Chicken Meatballs
Serves 4-6

1 lb ground chicken
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper
1 head escarole
1-1/2 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour olive oil into a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chopped carrot, onion and celery. Sauté for 10-15 minutes, until soft.

Mix the ground chicken, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg and salt and pepper with the sautéed vegetables. Roll the mixture into meatballs.

Place the meatballs on a sprayed 9’x12” baking dish. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the meatballs start to turn a golden brown.

While the meatballs are baking, you will prepare the escarole. Start by thoroughly washing the escarole. Chop off and discard the bottom portion of the escarole head, keeping the loose leaves. Place the leaves in a pot of boiling water, and boil them for 10-15 minutes. You want to soften the leaves to make them pliable enough to wrap around the meatballs.

Once the meatballs are done baking, let them cool long enough for you to be able to wrap them with the escarole. Carefully wrap a few leaves around each of the meatballs, placing the meatballs back into the baking dish. Pour the chicken broth over the chicken meatballs, then return the baking dish into the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes. 

Remove from the oven. Plate the meatballs and drizzle the broth over the meatballs before serving.

A Little of This and Some of That: Game Day Party Foods!

It’s Super Bowl party time! On today’s podcast, we’re discussing new and fun alternatives to traditional game day party foods. We’re tackling everything from wings, pizza and salads (yes, I said salads), to beers that represent both the east and west coast. So pull up your favorite bean bag and listen in, as we kick off our game day party episode. Links to all of the recipes discussed are covered below. Game on!!!

Show-related links

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Mini Pizza Pockets

Dorito Salad

Redhook Brewery

Audible Ale

Samuel Adams Brewery

Saranac Brewery

Allagash Brewery

Be sure to contact us at info@domskitchen.com or in the Comments section below to let us know about your game day party food suggestions or ideas, and to let us know what you thought about this episode of A Little of This and Some of That.

Eggplant and White Bean Meatballs

Could it be? A meatball recipe that doesn’t include beef, pork and veal, and isn’t fried? I’ve preferred baking meatballs over frying them for a long time now…but a meatless meatball? Truth is, there are a lot of interesting vegetarian meatball recipes out there. I find that eggplant is a fun vegetable to experiment with, and a little research led me to quite a few eggplant meatball recipes. I picked and chose from a bunch and put together my own version, which also includes white beans. While obviously not the same taste and texture as a true meatball, these are loaded with great flavor, and are very hearty and filling. Crunchy on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside…it was a perfect substitute for the real deal. What’s best is that my youngest daughter Ava, who is a meatball aficionado, powered through a dish of these! Serves well on their own or with a dish of marinara on the side for dipping.

Eggplant and White Bean Meatballs

Makes approximately 12 meatballs

1 large eggplant, skin removed, cut into 1″ pieces
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tbspn olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
salt and pepper
1 tbspn fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tbspn mint, finely chopped (you can use 2 tbspn basil if you do not have mint on hand)
1/2 cup canned canellini or garbanzo beans, rinsed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375˚. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, cook for one minute. Add eggplant, then add water. Stir so that all of the eggplant pieces are coated. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid over the pan, lower the heat to medium and let eggplant cook until soft and tender, about 10-12 minutes (stirring occasionally). Remove eggplant from the pan, set aside to let cool.

When cooled, place eggplant in a food processor with remaining ingredients. Pulse until well mixed, but not puréed. You can mix by hand if you do not have a food processor, but the meatballs will have a chunkier consistency. Shape the mixture into small balls as you would with traditional meatballs. Placed the meatballs onto a lightly sprayed baking sheet. Lightly spray the meatballs. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until they are no longer soft to the touch.

Serve with marinara sauce.