PALEO ish BUFFALO CHICKEN MEATBALL SLIDERS!

These meatball sliders will please everyone! Not just paleo critics!  Trust me I know:) I served them to my entire gang last night and the response was......"Can we have these in our lunch tomorrow?"

Now, if you have been following my blog you know that I have a very difficult family to please!  So as usual I modified this recipe slightly for hubby and the boys and modified it slightly again for my daughter.  Most people do not have to go through all of this extra work but I really don't mind.  And, I see it as getting them one step closer to healthy!


I call this recipe Paleoish simply because I do allow myself some cheese once in a while and I use Franks Red Hot.  I am lactose intolerant but can handle goat cheese in moderation without any side effects.  Normally I use Daiya Cheese in all of my dishes but from time to time I treat myself with some goat cheese.  Goat cheese has come a long way since I was a kid and my Grandmother was always trying to convince us to try it.  Now there are so many varieties of goat cheese flavours, it is so smooth and creamy as well.  For this recipe I made a Goat Blue Cheese Aioli to serve with my Paleo Buffalo Chicken Meatballs.  Hence the "Paleo ish"  You could substitute the Goat Blue Cheese in the Aioli for a nice cilantro Aioli.


These meatballs could be made ahead, and refrigerated until you are ready to serve them.  I have served my meatballs as sliders on Beet Buns with a Goat Blue Cheese Aioli , but you could serve them alone with toothpicks and have the dip on the side as a delicious Hors d'oeuvre at your next back yard bbq.


The recipe is easy to follow and the prep/cook time is minimal.  It took me a total of 45mins from prep to plate but I move Fast!  I am super organized and can multitask well.  For some it may take closer to 1 hour.  That is why making the meatballs in advance and freezing or refrigerating works wonders.


Ingredients:

2lbs pasture chicken thigh meat
1 egg
1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
3 organic green onions sliced thin
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh Dill
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup franks Red Hot Sauce plus 1/4 cup in a separate small bowl
2 organic Jalapeno peppers diced (Optional, we like it hot!)
2 large organic beets
EVOO
1tbsp grassfed butter

Find my Goat Blue Cheese Aioli Recipe


Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

For the Beet Buns:

• Wash and slice your beets, you want each slice to be about 1/8 inch thick.  If they are too thin they will crumble and if they are too thick they will take too long to cook.
• Place the beet slices on a non-stick baking sheet or use a non-stick cooking spray
• Brush each beet slice on both sides with EVOO and sprinkle each side with Kosher Salt.  Kosher Salt is important because it gives the beets a nice crust that sea salt does not.  And it has a wonderful flavor!
• Bake in the oven turning once for approx 35 minutes.  you want them to be firm and just starting to brown.  I leave my beet slices in the oven the entire time that my meatballs are cooking.  The timing seems to be perfect!

For the Meatballs:

• Trim all visible fat from your chicken thigh meat
• Using your food processor, grind the chicken thighs (You could use store bought ground chicken meat but I find the meat balls a little dry this way.  You may want to add another egg and cut back on the almond meal if you choose to use the store bought ground chicken)
• In a large bowl using your hands, mix together the ground chicken thighs with all other ingredients except the Jalapeno peppers and the Franks Red Hot.

•  This is where I modified some meatballs slightly for my 7 year old daughter who doesn't like anything spicy.  At this point I separated enough of the chicken mixture to make her 4 large meatballs without the Jalapenos and Hot Sauce.  If you Dont want to make a few meatballs that are not spicy skip this step!

• Then add your Jalapeno peppers and Franks Redhot Sauce and mix well using your hands.
• You will notice that this chicken mixture is gooier and stickier than your typical meatball mixture that contains bread crumbs.  This is perfectly fine, its just a little trickier to form perfect round balls, so I don't stress out about it.  They still look fabulous.
• Wash hands well with antibacterial soap, and use hands to form round meatballs about the size of a small plum.  I find it helps to keep my hands moistened with a little water during this process to help keep the chicken mixture from sticking.
• Place the meatballs on a non-stick baking sheet or you may want to use some non-stick cooking spray.  There isn't a lot of fat in these meatballs so they will stick to the pan if you don't.
• Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes turning them a couple of times.
• In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup of franks redhot with 1 tbsp melted grassfed butter and drizzle some of this buffalo sauce over each meatball

Serve the meatballs between the beet buns topped with my Goat Blue Cheese Aioli along with a side of Fiddleheads !

To please my munchkins, I served the meatballs on fresh slider buns and topped them with shredded cheddar cheese instead of the Goat Blue Cheese Aioli.  They were a huge hit!