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.

Shrimp Ceviche

We have a great tradition with some of my girl friends. We take turns in organizing a three course dinner for eachother, inspired by food we love to cook. It doesn't have to be expensive, just taste good. Each pay for the food when it's your own turn to cook, and the others bring wine/drinks. We try to cook food the others don't know how to make, so when my turn came I decided to make Shrimp Ceviche for starter, and Seared Tuna for main.

Shrimp Ceviche

400grams Tiger Prawns/Shrimp (jättikatkarapu)

1 Avocado

1/4 Cucumber (peeled)

1/2 red chili (mild)

Chopped cilantro (korianteri)

1/2 lime and lime zest

 salt to taste

I start by buying good quality prawns, and here in Helsinki fresh can rarely be found. Make sure you don't buy regular shrimp, instead jättikatkarapu. Frozen are ok, just make sure they're pre-cooked (red/pink in color). If they aren't (gray in color) you have to cook them until they turn pink and let them cool down. If you use preserved (liemessä) make sure you rinse them! Otherwise they will taste salty and sour :/

I remove any shell left, and cut the prawns in half. Next I peel the cucumber, this might seem dumb but it makes an incredible difference. If you don't peel the cucumbers, they will have a much more bitter and overpowering taste. Once the cucumbers are peeled i dice them into small squares. Next I dice the avocado in about same size dices.

I usually use a mild chili, as much as I love heat, the point of a Ceviche is not to be spicy. I want it to have a kick, and a taste of chili, but that's it. Here Pirkka has mild red chilis that are quite good. Remove all the seeds, and chop about 1/3 - 1/2 of the chili depending on taste.

Mix avocado, cucumber, shrimp/prawns, juice from 1/2 lime, a little salt and lime zest. You can easily let this sit in the fridge while you wait for your guests. Don't mix in the chili until about 10min before serving. The chili will react with the lime juice and easily become too spicy and overpowering.

About 10min before serving, add the chili and the chopped cilantro. Taste! Add acidity if needed or salt to taste. Voilà, a perfect fresh starter, easy to prepare before guests arrive.