Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

Meatballs are a very versatile food to use with a slow cooker. Whether you are serving meatballs and sauce at a party, or perhaps preparing a fresh pot of meatballs Swedish style or in a barbecue sauce, the slow cooker is a resourceful and easy-to-use kitchen appliance.

One of our favorite weekday meals is crispy baked meatballs, sans gravy or sauce (many of you may still prefer the more traditional frying method…either choice being perfectly fine). We recently decided to make baked meatballs on a day that we were also planning to head to a matinée movie with the kids. My original goal was to roll and bake the meatballs earlier in the day, and to reheat them in the oven when we returned home. Being a home cook who is always looking for new takes on the traditional, I started to wonder if and how I could put our slow cooker to use.

Normally, a slow cooker would be used to simmer a dish unattended at a low temperature as opposed to baking, boiling or frying. While you can use a slow cooker to prepare dry ingredients such as breads and cakes, a majority of slow cooker recipes incorporate some form of liquid, whether it is produced from a meat that is in the recipe or if the liquid is added by hand. Because the slow cooker operates at such a low temperature, the heated liquid helps the cooking process without actually burning off or evaporating.

However, the whole intention of making crispy baked meatballs was to enjoy them crispy, without having them simmer in a liquid or a sauce. If I were to put the already baked meatballs into a slow cooker without any additional liquid, I may risk having the meatballs dry out and/or burn. It’s doubtful that the already baked meatballs would produce enough juice to heat the meatballs without having them become too dry to enjoy. If I were to add liquid to the slow cooker, they may become soft and lose the desired crunchy taste and texture.

I needed to add something else to the pot that would either produce its own juices or would absorb any other liquid that I may have added, without the risk of having the meatballs turn soggy. The solution ended up being simple and practical. Because my family and I traditionally serve meatballs in Sunday Gravy, I decided to play off of the roots of the sauce ingredients and use grape tomatoes tossed with olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper, along with a half cup of broth. By adding the seasoned tomatoes to the bottom of the slow cooker, I now had a bed for the meatballs to sit on without having them come in contact with the broth at the bottom of the slow cooker. The broth would heat up and cause enough moisture in the slow cooker to keep the dish hot, without having to worry about the meatballs soaking in the broth and becoming mushy and losing the desired crunch factor.

Another plus to this solution was that we also ended up with a nice warm tomato salad to serve on the side. Not only was this solution easy and efficient, it also added a rich and flavorful coating to the exposed portions of the meatballs, with no lose of crunch appeal. Of course, you can use a number of different vegetables to achieve the vegetable bed. Seasoned zucchini or squash, or a combination with grape or cherry tomatoes would all work well.

Winner, winner, meatball dinner!

Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

• 12-15 baked or fried meatballs (follow your favorite meatball recipe)
• 1 small container of grape or cherry tomatoes (zucchini and/or yellow squash would also work well)
• 1/2 cup broth (beef, chicken or vegetable would all work)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• Italian seasoning (optional)

Lightly drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and the chopped basil. Toss to evenly coat. Place the seasoned tomatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Place the cooked meatballs on top. Pour the broth over the meatballs. Season with additional Italian seasoning if you prefer. Set the slow cooker to low for 6-7 hours. Serve the meatballs along side the cooked tomatoes and enjoy!

Irish Cheddar and Ham Risotto

I realize that this recipe is a bit late to share for Saint Patrick’s day…truth is, I had no specific menu planned for this year’s celebration. This recipe came together in the last minute, and it was just too good not to share. Who says that a tasty recipe should only be enjoyed one day out of the year anyway?

For this dish, I’m using a basic and classic risotto recipe and am enhancing it with diced ham and shredded Irish cheddar. Very simple and easy, yet the results make for a creamy and hearty risotto that could (and should) be enjoyed any day of the year!

A common ingredient in risotto is a bit of white wine, added to the toasted arborio rice just before you start to ladle on the chicken broth. For this particular recipe, a pale ale would also work beautifully. I opted to not use any alcohol in my version, and it was still amazingly tasty. But if you prefer to stick with the traditional method, a half cup of dry white wine or a pale ale is my suggestion.

Irish Cheddar and Ham Risotto

1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1.5 cups uncooked Arborio rice
5 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
4 ounces Irish cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat the low sodium chicken broth to near boiling, set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent. Add the rice, sautéeing until each grain is coated.

Once the rice is coated, add one ladle of hot chicken broth to the saucepan. Stir constantly while simmering. Repeat procedure (ladle and stir once the liquid is mostly absorbed) for around twenty minutes.

When you are down to the final two ladles of broth, stir in the ham and shredded cheese. Continue to ladle and stir, the cheese will melt into the risotto, turning it into a creamy consistency.

When all broth is incorporated, remove from heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and stir well. Serve with crusty bread.

Porchetta Meatballs

Porchetta…or meatballs? Meatballs…or porchetta? If you are a fan of Italian-American food, you know that there is no real downside to this dilemma. For those not familiar with porchetta, it is a savory and well seasoned, slow cooked boneless roast of pork (sometimes carved directly from a roasted pig at outdoor events and festivals), usually served on a crusty Italian roll with roasted peppers, sharp provolone and sautéed broccoli rabe. I often make my version of porchetta as a Sunday dinner in a slow cooker, and if you follow my social media pages, you are very familiar with the photos that I share of the well-seasoned pork shoulders being slow cooked on my grill in the summertime. Most other Sunday dinners in my household are of course made up of meatballs and pasta.

It was just last week, as I was checking out the variety of pork shoulders on sale at the supermarket, that the package of ground pork caught my eye and sparked an idea. It is no secret that the classic Italian meatball is made up of equal parts ground beef, veal and pork. It is also common culinary knowledge that rolling and frying (or baking) meatballs takes up a lot less time than seasoning and slow cooking a pork shoulder. Here is where the spark really started to ignite…
If I were to use only the ground pork as the key ingredient in a meatball, seasoned with porchetta spices instead of my traditional meatball spices, would it taste as good as I am imagining it would?
Only one way to find out!

I’ve been writing this blog for just over 10 years, and I’ve put together some creative and fun recipes that I am proud of. But I have to say…this new recipe here is easily one of my favorites. Using only ground pork as the base of this recipe made for a juicy and tender meatball. The seasonings used in this recipe – garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, black pepper and toasted fennel seeds – were the perfect representation of a slow roasted pork shoulder, and worked harmoniously and beautifully with the ground pork. The timing of putting this recipe together – 45 minutes start to finish – was the real game changer.

Of course, I will never turn down a juicy traditional porchetta sandwich, and there will always be room at my dinner table for classic Italian meatballs in Sunday gravy. But this recipe will definitely be put to good use on those days where time and hunger are of the essence!

A Quick Tip about the Fennel Seeds
One of the key ingredients to a flavorful porchetta is fennel seeds, and they are also a key ingredient in this meatball recipe. A trick that I like to do when using fennel seeds for porchetta is to first toast the seeds in pan for about 8-10 minutes, until they start to brown a bit. This helps elevate the aromatic beauty of the seed and adds a really nice toasted flavor. I then prefer to add the toasted seeds, along with the kosher salt, and the garlic and onion powders to a spice grinder to help combine the spices into one mixture. A spice grinder is not absolutely necessary, but I suggest that you at least crush or chop the toasted fennel seeds before adding them to the meat mixture.

PORCHETTA MEATBALLS

1 pound ground pork
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon toasted fennel seeds (toasted 8-10 minutes in a pan over medium heat, until fragrant)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

*Rosemary is another fragrant herb that is often used to give flavor to a porchetta spice rub. I am not a huge fan of rosemary, so I prefer to leave it out. You can add 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary for additional flavor if you wish.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you have a spice grinder, add the toasted fennel seed, kosher salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powder to the grinder and pulse a few times until the fennel is chopped and the spices are well mixed. If you do not have a spice grinder, you can simply chop or crush the fennel seeds on their own, then mix with the salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder.

Add the spice mixture and remaining ingredients to the ground pork. Mix well. Roll the pork into 12-15 golfball-sized meatballs (depending on your size preference). Place the meatballs on a baking sheet or in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Lightly spray the meatballs with cooking spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the meatballs start to brown.

Remove from oven and serve immediately. You can serve them with buttered noodles or rice, with pasta, or my personal choice…in a crusty Italian roll with roasted peppers, sharp provolone and sautéed broccoli rabe!

Stuffed Pork Chops

I can’t say that pork chops are an item that are served all that often in my house. I have nothing against pork chops. In fact, there are even a few pork chop recipes that could be found on this site from way back in my early days of blogging. I just don’t tend to gravitate towards the pork chop section of the super market. However, a recent sale on thick cut pork chops gave me the urge to experiment once again with ‘the other white meat.’

I actually had a stuffed pork chop recipe bookmarked from a while back that I found to be inspirational, yet never got around to working my own magic with it. A recent rare Saturday night with both kids out at birthday parties made for the perfect dinner date opportunity for my wife and I. Instead of using the recipe’s recommended spinach, diced capicola and provolone stuffing with bone-in chops, I decided to go with a stuffing made of cherry tomatoes, kale and feta cheese in the boneless chops (not that the original recipe sounded any less appealing…sometimes you just have to use whatever ingredients you have on hand). The stuffing ingredients proved to be a great choice. Nice flavor, not too overpowering, and a great complement to the chops.

If you would like to give this recipe a try, I would highly suggest that you soak the chops in a brine prior to stuffing them, even if just for one hour. Pork chops, especially thick cut, can tend to be a little tough and dry, regardless of how they are cooked. One hour in a simple brine will help make your pork chops all the tastier! My brine of choice could be found at the end of this post.

Stuffed Pork Chops

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces (3 handfuls) chopped kale or spinach
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 thick cut pork chops (could use boneless or bone-in), soaked in brine*

Preheat oven to 375˚.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add kale, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and the Italian seasoning; cook, stirring, just until kale is wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove the kale mixture to a medium-size bowl; let cool completely. When cool, add the chopped tomatoes, feta and egg; gently stir to combine completely.

Place the pork chops on a flat work surface; cut a slit horizontally to form a deep pocket. Stuff each chop with 1/4 of the stuffing. Secure chops with toothpicks.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Add chops; cook 2 minutes per side or until browned. Place chops in single layer in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bake the chops in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature registers 155 degrees on an instant-read thermometer when inserted in the pork. Timing may vary depending on your oven, so be sure to follow the suggested temperature reading if possible. Remove chops to a platter; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

*Brine Recipe

4 cups water
4 tablespoons kosher salt
1.5 tablespoon sugar

Pour the water, salt and sugar into a small pot and heat over high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the salt and sugar completely dissolve and the water starts to bubble. Do not bring to a full boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Place the pork chops into a bowl, then pour the cooled brine over the chops. Cover and place in the refrigerator for one to one and a half hours.

Remove chops from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Discard the brine mixture.