I thought I’d switch things up a bit and share a couple of recipes that worked out really well and would be perfect for a special evening with your Master or a dinner party with guests.
The menu will consist of homemade ground chicken meatballs stuffed with cheese and Magic Chocolate Flan cake from scratch! The meatballs, I added to capellini pasta and cooked a side of veggies to make the meal complete.
Preheat oven to 400°
Ground Chicken Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
Tomato Sauce:
6 ripe tomatoes 3-4 cloves of garlic (may use roasted or sautéed garlic) 1lb mushrooms, sliced ½ tsp salt ½ large onion ¼ c white balsamic vinegar ¼ c olive oil (or sunflower oil) ½ c water (or as much as needed) fresh parsley fresh ground pepper to taste
Divide tomatoes (3 – 4), place in a blender with garlic, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; blend until smooth. Pour into a large sauce pan, bring to a boil and simmer. Add mushrooms to the sauce. The remaining tomatoes, parsley, and water goes into the blender next; however this we want to be chunky. Pulse until the tomatoes have formed a chunky sauce and then add to the already simmering sauce and cover while preparing the meatballs.
The Onion:
Sauté the onion in a little oil until tender and translucent. Add less than half to the simmering tomato sauce and use the remaining in the meatball mixure.
Ground chicken meatballs:
2lbs ground chicken breast ½ c panko bread crumbs ½ c water (or more) 2 tbsp olive oil (or sunflower oil) 3 spring onions (diced) approx. 2c cheese (I used rosemary asiago and Monterey Jack cheeses); dice cheese and set aside in a bowl ½ tsp salt fresh ground pepper to taste
Add ground chicken, bread crumbs, olive oil, spring onions, and sautéed onions in a large mixing bowl and mush together. Add water gradually until the mixture is nice and mushy and easy to form. I used my cast iron pan for browning and baking, but feel free to use whatever you have that will accommodate approximately 18 golf ball sized meatballs and most of your tomato sauce for baking.
Form a little patty in the palm of your hand, place some cheese in the center and fold the patty around the cheese and give a little roll between your hands to form a ball, repeat until all your meatballs have been formed. Brown the meatballs on the stove top. After browning add tomato sauce to almost cover the meatballs, and place in the oven uncovered. The sauce will cook down (which is why you have extra sauce on hand!). Allow to cook approx. 45 minutes, more if your sauce needs to cook down to thicken more.
Add remaining sauce (from the sauce pan) to a serving dish and add meatballs. Can eat alone or with prepared pasta. The cheese in the middle will be gooey and DELICIOUS!
And now for dessert… mmm mmm mmmmmm…
Magic Chocolate Flan Cake
Before I begin, let me say, the recipe calls for a 12c Bundt pan, however maybe it’s me, but even those that were advertised as 12c couldn’t hold the entirety of the mixture (and actually weren’t of a 12c capacity). I ended up using an angel cake pan, and it worked just as well. I adapted the recipe from Cooks Country. And of course, I think my variations makes the cake all that more personal and yummy.
This cake is decadent and utterly sinful! So enjoy!!
Please plan for timing. One recipe I found didn’t allow the cake to chill overnight, but I preferred to do so before unmolding it.
Chocolate Cake
½ c dulce de leche with cardamom to taste (or caramel sauce – my preference is for homemade dulce de leche)
½ c plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
⅓ c cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
⅛tsp salt
4 oz dark chocolate chopped (I used a bar I purchased from Trader Joe’s which was just under 4 oz, but it was 85% cacao)
6 tbsp unsalted butter
½ c buttermilk (or just a little more, I found that my batter was a little too thick and end up not being as light)
½ c raw cane sugar
2 large eggs
1tsp Bourbon vanilla extract (I purchased from Trader Joe’s)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom
FLAN
28 oz sweetened condensed milk (homemade is my preference)
2 ½ c whole milk
6 oz cream cheese
6 large eggs, plus 4 large yolks
1tsp Bourbon vanilla extract
⅛ tsp cardamom or to taste
Toasted Pecans
Place about 2/3 cup raw pecan pieces in an aluminum pie plate and place in the oven and toast. The sweet smell of toasted nuts will signal their doneness, but sample just to be certain (smile). The pecans should have a sweet nutty flavor that makes you feel warm and cozy inside.
The Cake
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan (should be able to hold at least 12 cups of fluids). Warm dulce de leche (or caramel) just enough to pour easily. Pour into pan to coat bottom. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in bowl; set aside. Combine chocolate and butter in large bowl and melt in a small sauce pan, stirring occasionally, until melted (or microwave, 2-4 minutes). Whisk buttermilk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla into chocolate mixture until incorporated. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter over caramel in prepared pan.
The Flan
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Don’t blend to the point of the mixture being frothy, you’ll have bubbles! Gently pour flan over cake batter in pan over the cake batter and place pan in large roasting pan. Place roasting pan on oven rack and pour warm water into roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the side of cake pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes (I let mine stay in just a little bit longer). Transfer cake pan to wire rack. Let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, then refrigerate until set, at least 8 hours (or overnight). (Remove roasting pan from oven once water has cooled.)
Finishing
Place bottom third of cake pan in bowl of hot tap water for 1 minute (I used the same roasting pan). Use a butter knife or a plastic knife to carefully go around the parameter of the cake. Place your inverted cake plate over the cake pan, and gently turn plate and pan upside down. Slowly remove pan, allowing dulce de leche to drizzle over top of cake. I added some extra sauce before topping the cake with the toasted pecans. And it was a hit! I received absolutely no complaints from those that partook in this delectable moment of edible hedonism.
