Magazine Challenge: Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

So.
I'm still at work with Jan/Feb.  Here's one of the recipes that I thought looked good and I just didn't get that far.
I follow Jesser on Pinterest because she and I seem to share similar tastes in food.  She pinned a recipe with chicken meatballs from Iowa Girl Eats that I pinned as well.  In the preamble, there was talk from Ree Drummond of Pioneer Woman of how meatballs are one of the trends in food for 2013.  I can see how this is true.
I love making things with meatballs.  They're versatile and can be made from any combination of ground meat.  I already make lots of things that include them like the Teriyaki Meatball Rice Bowls,  Volcano Sandwiches and Easy Spaghetti and Meatballs.  I also have plans for a couple more recipes that feature them this month.  So, perhaps we'll say meatballs are a trend in March on the mountain.
I present to you now from the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of Everyday Food Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken, cut into chunks
1 slice bread, torn into pieces
1/4 c milk
1 large egg
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp olive oil
1-28 oz can whole tomatoes in tomato puree

Method:
1.  Place cheese, bread, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs are formed.  Pour into a bowl and add egg and milk, mixing well to moisten and combine.
2.  Place chicken in food processor and pulse until finely ground.  Add to bread/egg mixture and combine with hands until well incorporated.
3.  Shape mixture into 12 meatballs and place on a large plate.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to help the meat hold its shape.
4.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add meatballs, and cook until golden.  (I did mine in 2 batches to leave space for my spoon to be more gentle)
5.  Add tomatoes and puree, breaking the tomatoes up with the spoon.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, 15 minutes.  Uncover and simmer until meat is cooked through, about 15 minutes more.
(Serves 4)

 Adapted from Everyday Food Jan/Feb 2005

I don't own a food processor.  I have a mini one as an attachment to my stick blender.  My blender is my Magic Bullet.  It's all about the improvisation.  I was planning to break out the Spong and grind my chicken, but when I realized that I was going to have to get the chopper out to make breadcrumbs, I decided to chop the chicken the same way I did for the salmon burgers.

While the recipe didn't say to refrigerate the meatballs, I did.  They were pretty soft and gooey when I had made them (I may have been short on chicken...I used 1 huge breast and said good enough).  An hour in the fridge did them good so we didn't have chicken patties in tomato sauce.  They would have tasted as good though.

I kind of ended up with chicken triangular prisms.  Not really round.  I cooked them in 2 batches before adding the tomatoes.

I know what you're thinking.  A can of tomatoes?  That's it?  It really is.  The tomatoes cook down and thicken, and the chicken and spices give them flavour.  I also made the sauce the day before I used it, so the meat flavoured the sauce and vice versa in my fridge. 

J loved these.  I found them a little dry.  My guess is that I used a chicken breast instead of thighs as originally written.  The flavour was fantastic, and we got 2 meals out of it.  That's a win in my book.