Chicken Meatballs with Penne & Tomato Sauce

This recipe comes from Simply Ming: One Pot Meals, one of my favorite cookbooks.  If can also be made with chopped turkey.  For a complete meal, I serve this with steamed broccoli.

This serves 4 and takes about 45 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:
-1 lb penne
-Extra virgin olive oil
-2 shallots
-2-3 cloves garlic
-1/2 c panko
-1 lb ground chicken
-2 eggs
-1 bunch scallions
-32 oz jar tomato sauce
-20 basil leaves

Steps:
1) Prepare pasta
-Boil water in large pot with salt added
-Add penne
-Cook about 10 minutes or as directed on package
-Drain in cold water
-Drizzle with olive oil

2) Steam Broccoli
-Cut broccoli into spears
-Add to medium saucepan with steamer
-Bring water to boil and steam for about 15 minutes

2) Make meatballs
-While penne is cooking, mince shallots and mince or grate garlic
-Thinly slice scallions
-Heat 2 TBS olive oil in large skillet
-Saute onions & garlic until softened and lightly browned
-Mix together panko, chicken and eggs
-Add onion & garlic mixture
-Season with salt and pepper
-Heat 2 TBS olive oil in skillet over medium high heat
-Wet hand and form meat mixture into meatballs -- size of golf balls
-Add meatballs, working in batches
-Saute meatballs until all sides are brown, 4-5 minutes
-Add scallions, tomato sauce and basil to pot
​-Add all meatballs to pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes

3) Serve
-Mix pasta and meatball with sauce together in large bowl
-Serve pasta and steamed broccoli

​Enjoy!