Yep, you read it right. I made some pork-king good meatballs today and I can't wait to tell you all about it! Cruising through food-related posts got me craving for some good old fried anything, and I have grand plans. But seeing as I left out a pound of 85% ground lean beef in the chiller to thaw, I decided to make some breaded meatballs for lunch today.
I started prep in the morning (I even forgot to have my coffee!) because it was going to be a pretty labour-intensive recipe. It's a big help to have your mise en place sorted out so that you only need to focus on actually cooking the dish later on.
INGREDIENTS: (makes 8 meatballs; serving size is 2 meatballs)
1 lb ground beef (I used 85% lean beef)
1 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 oz cream cheese
1 oz shredded mozzarella
1 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tbs soy sauce (Kikkoman, light sodium)
For breading:
1 cup super fine almond flour
1 egg, beaten (add some water to make the egg wash)
1 1/2 cup Pork King Good Breadless Breadcrumbs (Order them here!)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl EXCEPT for the cheddar, cream cheese and basil. I'd recommend mixing with your hands to really incorporate all the ingredients well. Form 8 meatballs from the mixture. If you want to make more meatballs from this same recipe, just make them smaller.
In a separate and smaller bowl, mix the cream cheese, shredded cheddar, and the chopped basil. Take a meatball and press your thumb firmly into it to make an indentation where you will then place about a half teaspoon of the cheese mixture--feel free to adjust to your own preference. Once filled, close it and roll the meatball in the almond flour. Do this with all the meatballs. Once all of them have been dredged in almond flour, dip them in the egg wash and lastly, coat them in the pork rind crumbs.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cooking. This makes sure the meatballs hold their shape. I had to run to the gym and get a workout in, so my meatballs stayed in the fridge for a little over an hour and a half.
Arrange them on a baking dish and cover with tin foil so they don't burn. Bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake for another 6-8 minutes. If you want a crispier outer shell, you can fry them instead of baking them in the oven.
I paired the meatballs with Better Than Rice fried in sesame oil and butter with broccoli and soy sauce. It's a zero-carb rice substitute that looks like rice, tastes like rice, and feels almost like rice--and makes the Asian in me really happy. <3
600 calories (including fried veggie "rice")
590 calories without the rice (serving size is 2 meatballs)
35.7g Protein
2.4g Carbs (net)
48.9g Fat