Recipe Review - Herbal Chicken Hors-D'Oeuvres

[pippa]

There are quite a few ingredients in the recipe that we can't eat and yet they still turned out perfectly. I have also adapted the recipe slightly and crumbed them as chicken nuggets and the kids love them no matter how many vegies I put in there.  As an aside though, did anyone's turn out nice and browned like the picture?  Surely they were shallow fried???  Also I always seem to lose the recipe as they are not under "chicken" in the index and I have to remember that they are under starters!!

[Zan]

I make something similar (I call them chicken balls) and I oven bake them and they come out browned.




This is my recipe:

1.Made breadcrumbs, put aside
2. minced 500g chicken (pulse a few times), put aside
3. chopped garlic, parsley and basil
4. chopped onion, zucchini, red capsicum, 100g feta
5. Added chicken and breadrumbs and mixed.
6. Made into balls and cooked 30mins 200degrees.

[Sonan]

setting the mince aside sounds like a much better plan ! 

[asha_76]

I made these last night and stuffed them up !! Obviously there are different types of fetta and son purchased hard fetta (I normally buy a soft one) so adding it in at the end did not work at all.
I kept mixing and mixing and the poor chicken was well and truly ground ! Ooooops!
Next time I will make sure the fetta gets chopped first if it is hard.   

I know this is an old thread but I made these for the first time yesterday and found that mixing the feta and breadcrumbs in at the end didn't work at all either.  I ended up having to take the mixture from the jug, put it into a bowl and mix it through with my hands.  The balls ended up a little tough and I'm wondering if that's cause I overmixed the meat, trying to incorporate the feta and breadcrumbs? 

Also mine didn't look anything like the ones in the picture.  Those ones look like they have been crumbed in the breadcrumbs rather than have them incorporated in the ball itself.  Would be interested to hear if anyone else has tweaked the recipe.  I thought I might add the feta at the start next time when you chop all of the herbs and then put the breadcrumb mixture on the outside perhaps?

[judydawn]

Asha, I agree that the photo does look as if they have been crumbed in packet breadcrumbs but I have done this recipe quite a few times and with a few changes they are really nice.  I use only fresh parsley and shallots (I don't like the taste of raw onion added to meatballs) and chop them for a few seconds on speed 5.  I tried it with dried herbs but I didn't like them - they tasted a bit like sawdust   I usually buy chicken mince & use light feta cheese and just crumble it into the mince mixture with the fresh breadcrumbs then mix on reverse for a few seconds until combined.   I make them at least 4cm and only cook them for 10-15 minutes. Take one out after 10 minutes and check it. If I make them in advance, I just reheat them in a pan on the stove, tossing them in a bit of heated butter (this will give them more colour) but they are nice cold too. If you are going to chop hard feta with the herbs first, perhaps use the turbo button and check after each pulse.
There's a blank page at the back of the book, I use that to write down the recipe and page number of anything I've done as I find it quicker than searching through the index of some books.

[asha_76]

Thanks Judy...I will give that a go next time and see what happens. 

I used fresh parsley but I did use dried herbs plus I also had about 750g chicken instead of 500 so that might have made a bit of a difference.  Hubby said they were a bit bland and dry and I tended to agree.  I can see the recipe has potential though so will give it another try and hope I get better results!

[cecilia]

After all the positive reviews, I made these tonight and DH loved them. Because I'd been cooking something else before I put these into the oven and I forgot to reset the temperature, mine didn't brown up fully but after only 5 mins or so at the correct temp at end, they were fine.  I've made another batch for a party we're having tomorrow and I'm going to serve them with the Savoury Brandy Sauce from GF TMX book.  5/5 from our family.

[Katcme]

Has anyone made these dairy free (ie no fetta or cheese substitute)?

[pippa]

Yes Katcme, I have.  I can't remember now off hand what I used as a substitute, possibly nothing, but I remember them being fine without the cheese.  Just give it a go with no substitute and see what happens 

[cecilia]

Made these again today, adding bacon as per the tweak on http://yeahnayeah.com/ - really lovely and so easy to do ahead.

DGD15months was happy with them, which pleased me, as Imade them with her in mind.  I made up the breadcrumbs from Pumpkin Bread and that gave the chicken balls flecks of an interesting pumpkin colour.  Very tasty and appealing as an appetiser.

I'll share the leftovers: