It's been a crazy busy start to 2016! I've been so busy at school that I've scarcely had time to cook, let alone felt like cooking. This is a very bad thing in my house. Not wanting to cook means eating out. And eating out means eating meals that are quick, but not very good for you. Which means weigh gain for me. Okay, I've gained a wee bit of weight because of this busy/lazy period these last few months, but I'm getting back in gear. I see an end to my crazy schedule approaching so I can cook all these great ideas I have swimming in my head and scribbled on the backs of envelopes.
To get started on the right track here's a recipe that has bounced around my head since Christmas time. I finally made some time to putter around my kitchen on Superbowl Sunday and these super delicious Chorizo Meatballs with Chimichurri Pesto came to life!
These meatballs are made with ground turkey and soy chorizo so they are lighter in calories and fat than ones made with ground beef and beef chorizo. They are incredibly satisfying and full of flavor all by themselves. But the chimichurri pesto just knocks these meatballs out of the park! I wanted to make a sauce with these but thought a traditional chimichurri would be too oily, so I decided to add some cotija cheese and pine nuts to give it a texture more reminiscent of pesto. And I was so right! We had them as an appetizer while watching the big game, but since this was all I ate that night, they also ended up making a wonderful Tapas dinner. Enjoy!
Albondigas with Chimichurri Pesto
Makes ~24 Meatballs1.25 lb of ground turkey
12 oz. soy chorizo
1/2-3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Cotija cheese
3 T parsley, dried
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together and roll into small 1 inch meatballs. Place meatballs on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. After baking, toss these meatballs into a skillet to brown the outsides a little bit more. Place a tablespoon of chimichurri pesto (see recipe below) on a serving plate and place a skewered meatball on top and sprinkle with a little extra cotija cheese and serve.
Chimichurri Pesto
1 bunch of cilantro
1/4 cup of onion
1 garlic clove
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded chopped
1/2 cup cotija cheese, grated
1/4 cup pine nuts
juice and zest of one lime
1 T apple cider vinegar
3 T olive oil
salt (to taste)
Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend on high until well blended. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use. This sauce is great the next day as the flavors have more time to meld. Top meatballs with 1 T of chimichurri pesto and devour. Enjoy!
Other Meatball recipes to try:
Salisbury Meatballs with Kale Greek Meatballs Spicy Asian Meatball Soup
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