When you have a name like mine, you spend a lot of time thinking about whats in a name.
Would I be so…Lexa…if I was Jennifer?
I’d like to think so, but I think the name helps with the whole package.
Someone I know recently had a baby and they gave the kid a completely wackadoodle name. I can appreciate their efforts, but the kid has a hard road ahead of him. Might I also assert I am completely serious when I love the name Shoshanna? (I am sure my Jew lust plays a role, but I think it is a pretty perfect name.)
It isn’t like I think every kid should be named Madison or Jake…in fact, I think it should be every parents goal to divert from the top 100 list. You want your kid to be a little special, a tad unique, ya know? Your kid is going to spend her whole life learning how painfully unspecial they are: you may as well at least try to humor them in the beginning.
My point is made by this recipe. I wish it had a better name. Baked chicken meatballs seems too simple, an understatement, painfully common. Honestly, these are the best meatballs I have ever had. Like ever. In the whole entire world. They are moist and flavorful and kind of unique due to the mix of chicken and panchetta and I had a serious love affair with these. I want to cuddle with them and bring them to meet my parents. They are so amazingly good and to call them just meatball…well…it seems a shame. They are so much more.
But that is what they are: a meatball. Maybe it is more in the character than the name. A plain old meatball can be pretty special, it seems. What do I know?
Baked Chicken Meatballs
from Smitten Kitchen
3 slices Italian bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped (you can swap in Canadian Bacon if you can’t find pancetta)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons tomato paste, divided*
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Preheat oven to 400°F with a racks the upper thirds. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened, about four minutes.
Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in one tablespoon oil with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. (Alternately, as in “I thought of this after the fact”, I’d bet you could render the pancetta for a couple minutes and cook the onions and garlic in that fat, rather than olive oil.) Cool slightly.
Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Form 12 meatballs and arrange in another 4-sided sheet pan (I used a 9×13 roasting dish).
Stir together remaining tablespoons of tomato paste and oil and brush over meatballs (the paste/oil does not mix in any cohesive manner, but just smoosh it on and run with it) , then bake in upper third of oven until meatballs are just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes (though mine took a good 5 minutes longer).
* Deb accidentally added a heaping tablespoon of the tomato paste into the meatball mixture the first time she made it, and ended up liking it better than without it. She’ d use the tomato paste on top too. It’s good both places. (I did the same thing. It was awesome.)
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I was almost Daniel.
Or Stephanie but that’s a different story.
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I was born in a car crossing the Susquehanna River. To this day, my parents joke that if I’d been a boy, they would have named me after the bridge on which I entered this world—Harvey Taylor.
Thank GOD I’m a woman.
And thank god for you and this meatballs recipe…
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You name is perfect for who you are
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I love your name. I have ALWAYS wished I had an interesting name. My mom wanted to name me India. Or Evangeline. Or Victoria. And my dad said, hey, what about Lisa? I don’t feel like a dull person, but I do envy people with more interesting names.
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When I was growing up, I was Katie, now I’m Kate. And for the life of me, I can’t ever get people to call me Katherine, which is who I really think I am.
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A rose by any other name………
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My name is as boring as it gets. I’ve decided that when I run away to some Caribbean isle and take on a new identity, I’m going to be Liz the jeep tour girl.
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I’d like to think that I’d be this awesome even if my name was boring.
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I have an awesome last name, that unfortunately in no way reflects my personality.
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I still suffer the indignity of people not being able to properly pronounce my name or spell it. In my entire lifetime, I have only met two other Marisas. Considering that you’re supposed to say it “MAH-dee-sa” (thanks to my Mexican mother), I’ll just be thankful that no one does. Except my grandmom.
My sister has two kids and I am also entirely grateful that they are not named Inexplicably Popular Girl Names of 2008/2009. I was really worried for a while there I was going to end up with nieces with names like Madyson or Torchiere (kidding, kidding).
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I totally think my name is part of the magic that is me. My given name is Andrea, but the only people on earth who call me by my full name are distant relatives I only see at extended family weddings. My mom originally nicked my name, and I am so grateful, I feel like if I’d grown up an Andrea I’d be much more sedate, and dare I say, dull.
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My name is both easy to spell and absurdly common. I’ve met at least 4 other people with both my first and last name, and one of them was my brother’s roommate for a while. He had fun with that, I promise you. The name comes with other issues that I won’t bore you with, but I can vouch that sometimes I wish I had something a trifle more interesting and less inference-laden.
As for you, I’m with Jeff and his Shakespearean allusions.
Apropos nothing in particular, Jolene Blalock played a character named Lexa on the latest episode of House.
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My name still doesn’t seem like my own, after 26 years. WEIRD.
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name’s are a funny thing, huh?
i wonder sometimes about switching mine up… instead of going by the shortened nickname, go by my full name? im not sure.
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My name is fit for the history books as a conquerer of nations or destroyer of worlds. All of which I am waaaaayyyy behind schedule on.
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I share the first part of my first name with many, MANY women. The second however…not so much.
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Sounds like someone has a sever case of baby fever. Or maybe just meatball fever.
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Lemmonex Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 10:50 am
No baby fever…just a strong case of judgement.
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Names are funny. I think mine is quite boring.
Also, my parents decided to just name me ‘Beth’ instead of Elizabeth or Bethany, which is fine, except every time I fill out a form ANYWHERE, I get reminded that I must fill out my FULL first name.
Hello?!?! I’m nearly 30 years old. I think I know what my legal first name is by now!
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My middle name is Elmer. And my actual name is just Jeff, not Jeffrey. So in grade school teachers would always say “Jeffrey Elmer” and then I’d want to stab them. Unfortunately it is really hard to get a kill shot when you are in 1st grade.
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I don’t think mine fits at all (not that I know what it should be instead). But if I even thought of changing it, all hell would break loose, so…
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a girl i went to college with has three kids now. emily, rachel…and renaissance.
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when you have the name allie…you’d think it’d be straight forward. they know how to pronounce it, but no one spells it right the first time. it’s either alli or ally.
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Considering three of my best friends (in a group of 10) are named Jen…and two others share names–we all go by our last names…
So I guess I forget I even have a first name sometimes. But I like it. Its common enough that people know it…but not so common that someone in the room will always share it.
And my last name–well we all go by them, but we all have crazy long ones. I love the random ways people attempt at pronouncing mine. What is up with most Americans not understanding how to pronounce anything that has more than one syllable?
My siblings on the other hand all have really unique Israeli names and no one calls them by our last name. Hmmm.
Either way…if I ate chicken, I would gobble these up. Yum.
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Oh and you know how all my friends are married and took their hubbies names? WE STILL use our maiden names as first names when speaking to or discussing each other. Its just natural, right?
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Hey there! First time commenting, but I love your blog! I also feel like I should mention that I love my name, just to follow the trend here,
Just curious, though. Did you use spaghetti squash in the picture of the meatballs? I’m thinking about taking a stab at it, but I’m wondering about the texture.
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My father wanted to name me Alana, and my mom wanted to name me Vera, somehow they compromised on Jillian. I dig it though.
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I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
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I have started reading this book and love it so far!
I just couldn’t wait for it to go in to paper back.
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My father wanted to name me Alana, and my mom wanted to name me Vera, somehow they compromised on Jillian. I dig it though.
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