Chicken and Bacon Meatballs in Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Photography Josh Griggs.
This delicious dish can be cooked with the sauce in two different variations - if using the flour (as below) the sauce will be a thicker béchamel-style sauce. If omitting the flour, it will be a thinner gravy-style sauce. Either way it is utterly delicious!
Serves: 3-4
INGREDIENTS
MEATBALLS
1 large egg
2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
⅓ cup grated parmesan
600 grams boneless, skin-off chicken thighs, roughly chopped
100 grams streaky bacon, roughly chopped
½ packed cup parsley, roughly chopped
CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil
30 grams butter
1 onion, finely chopped
300 grams mushrooms, sliced
sea salt and ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs thyme
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons plain flour
¾ cup each chicken stock and cream
TO SERVE
mashed potatoes or cooked pasta
½ cup grated parmesan
METHOD
MEATBALLS: Whisk the egg, cream, salt and mustard together in a large bowl then stir in the garlic, chilli flakes, breadcrumbs and cheese. Blitz the chicken, bacon and parsley in a food processor until well chopped but not to a smooth paste. Add to the crumb mixture and mix until well combined. The mixture will be quite soft. Scoop out spoonsful and form into meatballs. Lightly oil your hands first and you should get about 16. Cover and chill in the fridge until ready to cook, up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake.
MUSHROOM SAUCE: Heat the oil and butter together in a large, deep ovenproof frying pan. Add the onion and cook over a medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper. Cook over a medium-high heat for 6–7 minutes until the mushrooms are mostly cooked through. Add the garlic, thyme and mustard and stir together then sprinkle over the flour and stir to combine, then add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and bake for 30 minutes.
TO SERVE: Serve the meatballs on mashed potato or pasta, drizzled with extra sauce, and sprinkled with parmesan.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.