Italian meatballs made with .... chicken?????!!!

Yes! Italian meatballs made with chicken as the principal ingredient.
Sounds like tofu-turkey Or veggie burgers doesn't it?

But bear with me and try it. You will agree that this meat substitution doesn' t deserve to be attached with the stigma of 'health-food' though healthier it is, if compared to it's beefy cousin.

We are on a quest to clean out our freezer and pantry of food items procured on a passing fancy, but sitting there since. In that spirit, I discovered a pound of ground chicken sitting in the freezer, that I had purchased a while ago for some dish I now have no recollection of. Our first-born Saumya is a huge meatball afficionado. So, I decided to experiment....

1 lbs ground chicken
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
1 egg (as binder)
salt to taste
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp crushed pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp rosemary

Pre-heat the oven to 400 deg F (~200 deg C).

Mix it all together. If the mix appears too wet, add some breadcrumbs to soak up the moisture.
Cover a cookie-sheet with some aluminium foil and spray with an oil of your choice.
With the help of an ice-cream scoop, make the meatballs and lay them about an inch apart from each other on the cookie sheet.

Put the cookie sheet in and bake it for 30-40 min until the meatballs are brown on the inside.

Voila! you have Italian food visiting your kitchen.

You can now eat them as a snack (on a stick), smothered with pasta sauce with spaghetti, or in a sandwich.

Let me know how it turned out. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome.