Looking for a finger food platter to take to your next party? Try these low FODMAP chicken and pork meatballs with cranberry sauce. The sweet and chunky cranberry sauce goes perfectly with the herby meatballs. Both the sauce and meatballs are good warm or cold. Dried cranberries can contain moderate levels of FODMAPs at a two tablespoon serve. This means you need to stick to a low FODMAP one tablespoon serve per person for the cranberry sauce.
Buying tips: Buy lean chicken and pork mince. If you can’t find both types of mince just choose one of them or substitute with lean ground turkey. Check the gluten free breadcrumbs do not include high FODMAP ingredients like inulin or chicory root fibre, apple juice or fruit juice concentrates. Make sure you buy dried cranberries that contain sugar and not apple juice or another high FODMAP sweetener.
Gluten free option: If you are a Coeliac and need to be completely gluten free, make sure you check that the dried thyme, oregano, and cranberries are wheat/gluten free.
Herby Chicken & Pork Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce
Serves: 7 to 10 people (2 to 3 meatballs each)
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS Chicken & pork meatballs
METHOD
1.Place the dried cranberries in a large bowl. Pour over boiling water until they are completely submerged. Cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm to keep the steam in. Leave to soak for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cranberries have rehydrated and are soft.
2.While the cranberries soak, make the meatballs. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Roughly chop the green tips of the spring onion and finely chop the fresh parsley. Place the chicken and pork mince, spring onion tips, fresh parsley, beaten egg, garlic infused oil, dried thyme, gluten free breadcrumbs, and soy protein milk (lactose free milk, almond milk or hemp milk) into a large bowl. Mix with your hands until well combined.
3.Roll the mixture into about 21 small meatballs and place on two dinner plates. Place a large non-stick frypan on to heat over medium high heat. Place the dinner plates into the microwave and cook on high for 30 seconds per plate (this will help cook the centre of the meatball).
4.Add the neutral oil to the frypan. Transfer the meatballs into the hot frypan and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the meatballs are golden and cooked through. Make sure you shake the pan every couple of minutes to move the meatballs so they cook evenly. Once cooked through transfer to a serving plate.
5.While the meatballs cook, finish the cranberry sauce. Zest the orange (the trick is to only zest the bright orange layer and not the bitter white layer underneath).
6.Drain the cranberries using a sieve but save the cranberry water they soaked in (the cranberries should now weigh about 225g or 7.94oz). Transfer the cranberries with 6 to 7 tablespoons of cranberry water to a blender/food processer or use a stick blender. Process until reasonably smooth (a few chunky bits of cranberry are okay).
7.Place into a small saucepan and add the sugar, orange zest and pinot noir wine if using. Place over medium low heat and allow the sugar to dissolve and sauce to reduce slightly (this will take about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. To burn off the alcohol in the wine allow the sauce to simmer for 1 minute. Once the sauce is your desired consistency remove it from the heat and place in a small bowl. Garnish with orange zest if desired.
8.Serve the chicken and pork meatballs with the cranberry sauce. I would recommend placing a teaspoon in the sauce so people can scoop it onto the meatballs. Serve meatballs and sauce warm or cold. Make sure you divide the cranberry sauce into 10 serves to stay within the low FODMAP serving size. This is just over a tablespoon per person.
9.If you are making the meatballs and sauce in advance make sure you keep them in the refrigerator.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Energy: 1011kJ
Protein: 15.6g
Fat, total: 12.6g
Fat, saturated: 2.9g
Fibre: 1.2g
Sodium: 62.9mg