Spicy Chicken Meatballs with Whipped Truffle Flavored Mascarpone

 In New York I tried these amazing Chicken Meatballs with truffle Mascarpone. I obviously don't have a recipe for them, but I decided to try and replicate the taste. These work best as Tapas, but technically you could serve them as a starter or a snack. The important thing is to flavor the minced chicken meat enough, it doesn't have that strong of a flavor itself.

Meatballs

400grams minced chicken meat

1/2 chopped red chili

2tbs grated ginger

2tsp ginger powder

chopped cilantro

1 egg

3 tbs breadcrumbs (gluten free if you need it)

salt & pepper

Mushrooms to garnish

Mascarpone whipp

150gr Mascarpone

1tbs quark (maitorahka)

salt

3tsp white (or black) truffle oil

 When you use ginger in a recipe like this, it might be better to grate it than finely chop it. A problem is that grating ginger on the finest possible blade, usually makes it stick to the grater.

A trick I learned (and this works for grating lemon/lime zest as well) is to put a piece of baking paper over the grater and press it down. Then you grate with the baking paper as cover.

What happens is that the baking paper actually captures all the finely grated ginger (or zest) so when you remove the paper, it's all there intact. Nothing stuck on the grater.

When the ginger is grated, remove all the seeds from 1/2 red chili and finely chop it. Chop up cilantro as well.

Add ginger, chili, cilantro, one egg, and the breadcrumbs to the minced chicken meat. Star working on mixing it all together.

Form some meatballs and put them in the oven for about 10min in 220C. Make sure the meatballs are cooked through, eating raw chicken is a serious health hazard.

While the meatballs cook it's time to make the mascarpone whipp. Combine mascarpone, quark a little bit of salt and the gradually the truffle oil. Mix it together. Taste it, if you feel like adding some truffel oil, do it. Be careful though, truffle has an overpowering taste.

 

Take the meatballs out of the oven,  chop up 4-5mushrooms and sear them in a pan with oil. Add some truffel oil when they are don, and mix it in. This will give the illusion of eating actual truffles. Pour the chopped mushrooms over the meatballs in a serving dish.

Add the mascarpone whipp, and garnish with some cilantro. Voilà! To make the whipp look prettier, I add it by using a ziplock/baking plastic bag that i cut a larger hole in. That way when you squeeze it, it looks prettier and fluffier than if you put it there with a spoon.