There’s nothing novel about pairing figs and gouda, but stuffing them both between two tortillas that crisp into a flakey buttery crust, takes the classic combo to all new heights. It may sound simple enough to do, but it took a non-standard approach to quesadilla making to get the result I was looking for.

To make a quesadilla, you’d normally assemble it first before throwing it in a pan and browning one side before flipping it and browning the other. Unfortunately, the indirect heat leaves the figs watery and green tasting, and the bulk of the figs keep the cheese from melting evenly. I knew that getting the figs to caramelize would require applying some direct heat to them.

One thought I had was to grill the figs first before adding them to the quesadilla. While this works in the flavor department, grilling sliced figs is a sticky nightmare and you end up with mush, losing about half the fig to the grill. Instead, I borrowed a technique I came up with for making cast-iron pizza on the stove before transferring it to a broiler. This gives the figs a chance to caramelize and the cheese a chance to thoroughly melt before it gets capped off with another tortilla and flipped back onto the stove to crisp the second side.

The caramelized figs concentrates their sweetness and imbues a honey-like flavor that provides a stark contrast to the nutty salty aged gouda. As a bonus, the time in the broiler renders one side of the quesadilla cracker-crisp providing a solid foil for the creamy melted cheese and ultra-sweet figs with pleasantly crunchy seeds.

Fig and Gouda Quesadilla

There's nothing novel about pairing figs and gouda, but stuffing them both between two tortillas that crisp into a flakey buttery crust, takes the classic combo to all new heights. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter softened
• 4 small flour tortillas
• 5.3 ounces figs (sliced into 1/4-inch thick wedges)
• 3.5 ounces shredded aged gouda

Directions

1. Move your oven rack to the top position and preheat a sheet pan in your broiler.
2. Divide and spread the butter on one side of all 4 tortillas.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add one tortilla, buttered side down.
4. Sprinkle some cheese on top and then arrange half the figs on top. Sprinkle with some more cheese. When the bottom of the tortilla starts to crisp, transfer it to the sheet pan in your broiler and let the figs caramelize a bit on top.
5. While the first quesadilla is in your broiler, assemble the second quesadilla in your pan and transfer that to the broiler.
6. Once the pan is empty again, top the first quesadilla (the one you just took out of the broiler) with another tortilla, buttered side up. Flip this quesadilla into the empty pan so that the fresh tortilla is face down in the pan. Fry until crisp.
7. Repeat with the other quesadilla.

Yield: Makes 2 small quesadillas

The post A New Way to Pair Fig and Gouda: In a Quesadilla appeared first on PBS Food.

At 241 years old, the US is still a relatively young country, but that doesn’t mean we have any shortage of national traditions. Eating red, white and blue foods to commemorate Independence Day is a fun food tradition that I always take on as a culinary challenge. Last year, I showed you how to make a red, white and blueberry potato salad.

This year, I decided to focus on one color… Strawberries are often used for flag themed desserts, but I don’t see them being used very often in savory dishes, which is why I wanted to see if I could do something fun and delicious with them for a Fourth of July barbecue.

Although this strawberry barbecue sauce started off as a personal challenge, it turned out so good that I think I may actually prefer it to regular barbecue sauce. I served it here with a grilled chicken breast, but this would be equally good on other cuts of chicken, lamb or pork.

Because of the high sugar content, I don’t recommend glazing your meat with it until the very end, as it will burn quickly. Just rub your meat with some vegetable oil and generously sprinkled it with kosher salt and pepper before grilling it. Then you can brush the sauce on when the meat is almost done, flipping it over a few times to caramelize it a bit. If you don’t have a grill, you can also pan-fry your chicken and then glaze it a bit like how you’d make chicken teriyaki.

In case you’re wondering about the side, they’re blue mashed potatoes which I made using a neat trick with red cabbage to give them their vibrant blue color.

Strawberry Barbecue Sauce

Strawberries aren't only used in dessert. Use this strawberry barbecue sauce to sweeten up your normal bbq flavor. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup jam
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce

Directions

1. Add all the ingredients to a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil.
2. Cook the strawberry barbecue sauce, stirring regularly until it reaches your desired thickness (2-5 minutes).
3. Let the sauce cool completely before storing it in a jar, in the fridge.

Yield: Makes about 1 cup of sauce

The post Sweeten Your Patriotic Meal with Strawberry Barbecue Sauce appeared first on PBS Food.

This super-low-effort kimchi bean sprout stir-fry comes together in about 10 minutes from just a handful of ingredients that require very little prep. With savory tender pork, spicy pungent kimchi and crunchy bean sprouts, it’s an umami packed festival of colors, flavors and textures that tastes like it took a lot more effort to make.

The trick to all the flavor is twofold. The first is the kimchi, which is loaded with over a dozen ingredients, like ginger, garlic, onions and cabbage that are lacto-fermented, boosting their umami producing amino acids. I find that some supermarket brands of kimchi taste more like spicy sauerkraut than kimchi, so be sure to find a full-flavored kimchi to get the most flavor into your stir-fry. Homemade kimchi is the best, but if you don’t happen to have a Korean grandma in your life, you can check out my kimchi recipe for a detailed tutorial.

The second trick, is one I covered a few weeks ago in my sesame snap pea chicken recipe, and it’s to marinate the meat and then coat it with potato starch before stir-frying. The starch helps the thinly sliced meat to retain its moisture and flavor and prevents the stir-fry from getting watery.

While mung bean sprouts would also work, I like the more substantial texture of soy bean sprouts for this dish as it adds a nice crunch, with little edamame-like beans at the tips of each sprout. They also tend to be a little longer and lankier than ordinary bean sprouts making this dish like a low-carb version of my kimchi pasta.

Kimchi Bean Sprouts

This super-low-effort kimchi bean sprout stir-fry comes together in about 10 minutes from just a handful of ingredients that require very little prep. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 6.5 ounces pork, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons potato starch
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 4 ounces kimchi
• 4 ounces soy bean sprouts
• 1 scallion (finely chopped)

Directions

1. Add the pork, sake and soy sauce to a small bowl and stir to combine. Add the potato starch and mix in well.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan over medium-heat until hot.
3. Add the marinated pork to the pan. Use a spatula to break up the pork so there are no clumps and spread the pork into a thin layer. Let the pork brown on one side and then stir fry until it’s about 80% cooked.
4. Add the kimchi and stir-fry until the pork is well coated with the juices from the kimchi.
5. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry until the bean sprouts are cooked through and there is no liquid left in the pan.
6. Adjust salt to taste.
7. Garnish with the scallions and serve.

Yield: Makes 2 servings

The post 10 Minute Kimchi Bean Sprouts appeared first on PBS Food.

Eggplant is one of those controversial vegetables that people either love or hate. I think a large part of why it gets such a bad rap is that it’s a fairly difficult vegetable to work with. Without the right technique it can end up tough, spongy and dry, or watery and flavorless, or just plain greasy. I’ve shared a few of my favorite eggplant dishes here before, like Baba Ghanoush and Eggplant Dengaku, but today I wanted to share a technique for making a salad inspired by Eggplant Caponata.

While I love a rich, flavorful traditional Caponata, it can be a bit of work, and isn’t quite as light as I’d like during the warmer months of the year. This salad still includes loads of creamy pan-fried eggplant, but I’ve topped them with a fresh relish made of red bell peppers, sweet onions and tomato. Aside from providing a stunning juxtaposition of colors, the relish is crisp, sweet and sour which brings an enjoyable contrast in taste and texture to this dish.

To keep the relish for getting watery, I borrowed a technique I developed for my pico de gallo recipe and added a room temperature thickening agent, in this case, chia seeds. They provide just enough viscosity for the relish, and you don’t even need to cook it!

While you can serve this right away, I like to let the flavors meld overnight in the fridge.

Eggplant Salad with Red Pepper Relish

This salad includes loads of creamy pan-fried eggplant topped with a fresh relish made of red bell peppers, sweet onions and tomato. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• For relish:
• 2.8 ounces red bell peppers (~1/2 pepper, diced)
• 2.3 ounces sweet onion (~1/4 sweet onion, minced)
• 4.6 ounces tomato (~1 small tomato, diced)
• 1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoon chia seeds
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For eggplant:
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 pound Japanese eggplants (trimmed and quartered lengthwise)
• flakey salt (to taste)
• flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

Directions

1. To make the relish, stir together the bell peppers, onions, tomato, vinegar, chia seeds, sugar and salt. Set aside to allow the relish to thicken.3
2. Prepare a paper-towel lined rack.
3. Add the olive oil to a frying pan and heat over medium-heat until hot. Add half the eggplant with one cut-side down and fry until golden brown, turn the eggplant so the other cut-side is down and fry until that side is golden brown as well. Transfer to a paper towel lined rack to drain. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
4. Once all the eggplant has been fried, pat the eggplant with some paper towels to remove any excess oil and then generously salt the eggplant with your favorite flakey salt (kosher or Maldon work well).
5. To assemble the salad, place the eggplant on a plate and then top with the red pepper relish. Garnish with flat-leaf parsley.

Yield: Makes 4 small servings

The post Eggplant with Red Pepper Relish is the New Summer Favorite! appeared first on PBS Food.

With tender chunks of zucchini in a spicy Arrabbiata sauce, this easy delicious pasta is the perfect one-pot meal for a busy weeknight dinner. Instead of boiling the pasta and making the sauce separately, they’re cooked together saving time, energy, and water.

First, some zucchini, onions and garlic are sauteed to bring out their flavors and sweetness. Then a can of tomatoes, water, penne and the seasonings go in and get cooked together until the pasta is cooked through. That’s all there is to it! Because the penne cooks in the sauce, the pasta is literally filled with the sauce, and the starch from the pasta gives the sauce the perfect pasta coating consistency.

Anchovies are a great way to add some umami to a pasta sauce, which is why I normally add them to my Arrabbiata, but to make this vegan-friendly, I’ve substituted soy sauce, which makes for a good substitute. That’s because soy sauce contains loads of umami boosting amino acids which work in tandem with the glutamates in the tomatoes to stimulate the umami receptors on your tongue.

While this makes for a delectably light pasta on its own, if you’re not vegan, crumbling some gorgonzola on top adds both richness and depth to this penne turning it into a vegetarian dish that even a meat-lover will enjoy.

One Pot Tomato Zucchini Penne

With tender chunks of zucchini in a spicy Arrabbiata sauce, this easy delicious pasta is the perfect one-pot meal for a busy weeknight dinner. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• .5 ounces garlic (about 2 large cloves, minced)
• 5 ounces onion (about 1/2 onion, diced)
• 8 ounces zucchini (about 2 small zucchini, cubed)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 14.5oz can stewed tomatoes (tomatoes and liquid roughly smashed)
• 2 teaspoons red chili flakes (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 8.5 ounces penne
• ground black pepper (to taste)
• flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

Directions

1. Add the olive oil, garlic, onion, zucchini and salt to a large pan and saute until the garlic and onions start to brown.
2. Add the water, stewed tomatoes, chili flakes, soy sauce and penne and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Turn down the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 10-12 more minutes or until the penne is cooked to your liking.
3. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parsley.

Yield: Makes 3-4 servings

The post Easy One Pot Tomato Zucchini Penne for Dinner appeared first on PBS Food.

While most people eat chia seeds for their high nutritional value, I love using them for their culinary benefits. For example, they’re a great way to thicken things like chocolate pudding without cooking it. They’re also a quick way to add texture to foods, like this strawberry parfait.

I’ve mainly stuck to using chia seeds for sweet applications, but it recently occurred to me that they could be useful in savory dishes as well, both to add texture and viscosity. My first experiment was to use it to thicken a salad dressing, and it worked out better than I could have imagined.

In order for a dressing to season a salad properly, it needs a bit of viscosity so that it clings to your ingredients. A loose dressing would all just run to the bottom of the plate leaving your salad flavorless. This is why oil is usually added to dressings. When the oil is whisked together with other ingredients such as vinegar, it creates an emulsion that’s just the right thickness to coat the greens in a salad. But even with oil in the dressing, there are some ingredients like tomatoes where the dressing beads right off the tomato’s satiny skin.

This is why I usually use gelatin thickened gellées to season tomatoes. But heating the dressing ingredients up to incorporate the gelatin can alter their flavor, and the step of having to cook your dressing is a bit of work. Enter the mighty chia seed. Because it thickens at room temperature you can just stir in a spoonful of chia seeds into your dressing ingredients and within 10 minutes, you’ll have a nice thick gel that’s perfect for pouring over tricky ingredients like tomatoes. As an added bonus, you get some added texture and nutrients, and you don’t need to use oil in the dressing.

For this salad I’ve made a simple ponzu dressing with yuzu juice and soy sauce, but you could do this with lemon juice, or a more standard vinaigrette as well.

Tomatoes with Chia Ponzu Dressing

In order for a dressing to season a salad properly, it needs a bit of viscosity. That's why chia seeds are the perfect addition to a dressing. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon yuzu juice
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
• 3 small vine ripened tomatoes 200 grams
• flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

Directions

1. Stir together the yuzu juice and soy sauce to combine. Add the chia seeds and let them soak for about 10 minutes.
2. Slice the tomatoes into wedges and dress with the chia ponzu. Garnish with flat-leaf parsley.

The post Drizzle the First Summer Tomatoes with a Chia Ponzu Dressing appeared first on PBS Food.

This week’s episode of Food — Delicious Science covers how food literally builds our bodies. It’s a topic that brings new meaning to Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s famous quote “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”

One takeaway for me was the relationship vitamin D has with your body’s ability to absorb calcium. Vitamin D is naturally produced by our bodies when our skin is exposed to sunlight, but in our modern office dwelling world, many of us don’t get enough vitamin D, which in turn can inhibit our body’s ability to absorb calcium. The good news, is that there are some foods, that do the work of converting sunlight into vitamin D for us, and there is perhaps no food source more rich in vitamin D than Maitake mushrooms.

I’ve writen before about the wonders of Maitake mushrooms (a.k.a. Hen of the Woods), but by pairing them with a lemon yogurt sauce, I’ve created something that hits both nutritional needs with one tasty dish.

Unfortunately most of the Maitake mushrooms available in stores have been grown indoors and unless they’ve been exposed to UV light during processing, they don’t contain as much Vitamin D as they have the potential to. Luckily it’s easy to fix this, by giving the mushrooms some time in the sun. One USDA study found that UV light exposure of as little as 15-20 seconds can have a significant impact on the amount of Vitamin D contained in the mushrooms. The other benefit of leaving the mushrooms out in the sun for a bit is it dries them out a bit, which makes it easier for them to crisp in the pan.

The resulting steak is crisp on the outside and meaty and flavorful on the inside. Served with a thick lemon yogurt sauce, it’s a satisfyingly flavorful combo that will make you want to lick your plate clean.

Food – Delicious Science is the scientific story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. The third episode airs Wednesday, May 31 at 10:00pm | Check local listings

Crispy Maitake Steak with Yogurt Sauce

Served with a thick lemon yogurt sauce, this steak is a satisfyingly flavorful combo that will make you want to lick your plate clean. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• For yogurt sauce:
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• zest from 1/2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For Maitake steaks:
• 12 ounces maitake mushrooms (in one clump)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme (leaves only)
• 0.25 ounces garlic (about 1 large clove, minced)
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Black pepper (to taste)

Directions

1. Trim any tough bits off the stems of the maitake. Split the clump of maitake mushrooms in half so that you have two pieces that are roughly the same thickness.
2. Set the maitake mushrooms on a tray and place them in the sun for one hour, with the gills facing up.
3. To make the yogurt sauce, whisk the Greek yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt together in a small bowl and keep it refrigerated while you prepare the steaks.
4. When you're ready to make the steaks, drizzle the olive oil evenly over both pieces of maitake and then sprinkle on the thyme and garlic. Generously salt and pepper the maitake to taste.
5. Place the seasoned maitake steaks in a frying pan and then place a heavy pan or pot on the mushrooms to press them down.
6. Turn the heat onto medium and fry the maitake on one side until golden brown. Remove the weight and flip the mushrooms over and then put the weight back on them. Fry until golden brown.
7. Remove the weight and flip the mushrooms over, frying them on the first side until it crisps.
8. Serve the maitake steaks with the yogurt sauce.

Yield: Makes 2 maitake steaks

The post Get Your Vitamin D from Maitake Steak with Yogurt Sauce appeared first on PBS Food.

This week’s Food Delicious Science is all about taste, so I thought it would be fitting to show you guys a dish that takes full advantage of the 5 types of taste receptors on our tongue: umami, sweet, sour, bitter and salt.

But before I get into that, did you know that taste and flavor are two different things? Taste, is one of the 5 sensations we sense with our taste receptors, while flavor is perceived when aromas travel from our mouths to our nose as we chew. Taste is obviously an important part of enjoying food, but without flavor, we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between orange juice and strawberry juice.

With tangy bitter mustard, sour umami rich tomatoes, sweet onions, salty soy sauce, and umami filled chicken, this dish will stimulate all your taste receptors to varying degrees. But it’s the flavors created through the Maillard reaction, that really makes this dish shine. In the same way that caramelizing onions makes them more flavorful, by browning the chicken and garlic the process imparts a flavor that’s far more than the sum of its parts.

Another sensation that makes eating enjoyable is texture, and because of the way this dish is constructed you get different textures, tastes and flavors with each bite, depending on what you have on your fork. This allows you to play an endless game of mix and match that gets more addictive with every bite.

Most of the ingredients should be easy to find, but in case you’ve never heard of Mirin, it’s a sweet rice wine that’s often used in Japanese cuisine and is a core component of teriyaki sauce. It can be found in most Asian, grocery stores, but try and look for one that’s meant for drinking and not for cooking, as the ones for cooking tend to be loaded with corn syrup and salt. If you can’t find mirin, you can substitute a tawny port.

Food – Delicious Science is the scientific story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. The second episode airs Wednesday, May 24 at 10:00pm | Check local listings

Tomato Avocado Chicken

With tangy bitter mustard, sour umami rich tomatoes, sweet onions, salty soy sauce, and umami filled chicken, this dish will stimulate all your taste receptors to varying degrees. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• For chicken:
• 8.9 ounces boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite-size pieces)
• 1 large clove garlic (minced)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• For sauce:
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• for stir-fry
• 3.5 ounces red onion (about 1/2 onion, sliced)
• 7 ounces cherry tomatoes
• 1 avocado (pit removed and cubed)

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken with the garlic, salt and olive oil.
2. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl by whisking together the soy sauce, mirin and dijon mustard.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and then add the marinated chicken in a single layer. Fry on one side until golden brown and then flip and fry the other side until golden brown.
4. Add the onions and then saute until they start to become translucent and start to brown around the edges.
5. Add the cherry tomatoes and the sauce and then cover the pan with a lid. Steam for 1 minute.
6. Remove the lid and then toss in the avocados. Turn up the heat and continue tossing until the sauce starts to caramelize.

Yield: Makes 2 large servings

The post A Burst of Flavor, Tomato Avocado Chicken appeared first on PBS Food.

One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about food is because it’s an amalgamation of art and science. While cooking is traditionally viewed as a creative pursuit, understanding the science behind food and cooking helps unlock new avenues of creativity while being able to effortlessly maintain a nutritionally balanced diet.

Food – Delicious Science is a new show that follows a science journalist and ethnobotanist around the world in search of answers to questions about the taste, biological function and psychological triggers that make eating, such a pleasurable pursuit.

The first episode, covers the brain, delving into why we crave certain foods. I won’t spoil the show for you by giving away the details, but since chocolate is the most craved food in the world, I couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy the first episode than to have a big bowl of this crave-worthy chocolate rice pudding on hand.

To make this glorious comfort food, I borrowed techniques from my Risotto Milanese, and my Chocolate Pudding. It does take a bit longer to make than regular chocolate pudding, but the decadent pudding, accented with al dente grains of rice is well worth the extra effort.

I’ve added a splash of almond flavored Amaretto at the end, but you can leave this out or substitute other liqueurs like Grand Marnier, or Chambord. Enjoy the pudding and stay tuned for the upcoming Taste and Body episodes of Food Delicious Science and a recipe to go with each one.

Food – Delicious Science is the scientific story of the food on your plate. Michael Mosley and James Wong present a celebration of the physics, chemistry and biology that lies hidden inside every bite. Premieres Wednesday, May 17 at 10:00pm | Check local listings

Chocolate Rice Pudding

This decadent pudding, accented with al dente grains of rice is well worth the extra effort. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• 5 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted cultured butter
• 1/2 cup short-grain rice (such as sushi rice, or Arborio)106 grams
• 5 ounces dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon Amaretto (optional)
• Toasted sliced almonds (for garnish)

Directions

1. Add the milk and unsweetened cocoa powder to a pot, whisk to combine and heat until hot, but not boiling.
2. In another pot, add the butter and sugar and heat over medium heat until the sugar has melted and is bubbly. Add the rice and coat with the caramel.
3. Add the hot milk one ladleful at a time, stirring constantly until most of the milk has been absorbed before proceeding with another ladleful of hot milk. Repeat for 30 minutes.
4. Add the remaining milk and stir to combine. Turn down the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally until the mixture is very thick and the rice is tender.
5. Add the chocolate a handful at a time, stirring and fully melting the chocolate between each addition.
6. Finish the pudding by adding the cream and amaretto and stirring to combine. You can adjust the viscosity of the pudding by adding more milk if it's too thick. Top the rice pudding with toasted sliced almonds to garnish. Serve hot, or let the pudding cool to room temperature and refrigerate.

The post Crave-Worthy Chocolate Rice Pudding appeared first on PBS Food.

Because ground chicken tends to be very lean, chicken meatballs can easily turn into a dry pasty pucks of meat. When I made my chicken parmesan nuggets I discovered that stuffing the nuggets with cheese helped offset the leanness of the meat. That’s because the fat from the cheese bastes the chicken from the inside, keeping it moist, while infusing it with tons of flavor.

It got me thinking that the same technique might work for meatballs as well. My first experiment turned out reasonably well, but the problem was that I found myself enjoying the melted cheese more than I was the shell of chicken, which still turned out pretty tough. While the cheese was able to keep the chicken moist, the lack of fat in the ground chicken itself makes it very tough as it cooks. It’s like dipping boot leather in butter.

This got me thinking about how I could make the chicken mixture more tender, and I found my solution in the amount of breadcrumbs added. The bread crumbs do two things. The first is that it makes the meatballs more tender by reducing the density of chicken proteins in the mixture. The second is that it absorbs the juices from the chicken and cheese as they cook, in the same way that bread can be used to sop up a bowl of soup. By adding more breadcrumbs than I normally would to meatballs made with other meats, it made the meatballs super juicy and tender.

The trouble with adding a lot of breadcrumbs is that it can make the meatball so tender that they fall apart. Given that these have a molten cheese center, the result is a messy frying pan with hollowed out meatballs. My solution was to add an egg to help bind everything together. Then, it’s just a matter of wrapping the cheese in an even layer of chicken meatball mix (this takes a bit of practice).

I glazed these meatballs in a tomato teriyaki sauce, but these are also delicious cooked in a marinara sauce for a few minutes after being browned. As for the cheese, anything that melts will work such as Gruyere, Emmentaler, Brie, or Mozzarella.

Cheese Stuffed Chicken Meatballs

Glazed in a tomato teriyaki sauce, these cheese stuffed chicken meatballs will have your mouth watering. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.)

Ingredients

• For meatballs
• 3.5 ounces onion (about 1/2 onion, minced)
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup panko
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• 70 grams cheese (cut into 6 bars)
• For sauce
• 1/4 cup sake
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• To fry
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. Add the onions to a microwave-safe bowl, and cook the onions in the microwave until they are soft and translucent (about 2 minutes at 800 watts). Let the onions cool enough to touch.
2. Add the ground chicken, egg, panko, salt and white pepper to the onions and knead the mixture together until evenly combined.
3. Split the mixture into 6 even clumps.
4. Take half of one piece in your hand and flatten it out into an oval that's slightly longer than the cheese. Place the cheese in the center and then cover with the other half of chicken. Shape into and egg-shaped ball, making sure there are no air pockets or holes. Repeat with the remaining 5 clumps of chicken mixture.
5. Make the sauce by combining the sake, soy sauce, honey, and tomato paste in a small bowl.
6. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the oil. Add the chicken meatballs to the pan and gently press on the tops of each meatball with a spatula to ensure they're making good contact with the pan. Fry until golden brown on one side.

Yield: Makes 6 large meatballs

The post Not Your Ordinary Meatballs, Cheese Stuffed Chicken Meatballs! appeared first on PBS Food.