Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Bleu Cheese Sauce and Pasta

We are both buffalo chicken fanatics and this new twist on the classic wings was perfect and dare we say more sophisticated. Just typing and thinking about it now is making us salivate.

Meatballs:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/8 cup Frank's RedHot hot sauce, plus more for serving
1 pound ground chicken
1 large egg
1 rib celery, minced (about 1/2 cup)
5/6 cups dried breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon table salt

Sauce:

3/4 cup skim
1 medium garlic clove, thinly sliced
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup asiago cheese
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Pasta:

About half a box of whatever pasta you want, we used bowtie

Directions:

1. For the meatballs: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Evenly coat a large rimmed baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
2. Place butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, whisking, until butter is melted and hot sauce is well incorporated. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl; let cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
3. Add chicken, eggs, celery, breadcrumbs, and salt to bowl with butter mixture; using your hands, mix until well combined. Roll chicken mixture into balls and place on prepared baking sheet (about 14 balls). Transfer to oven and bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
4. Take out of oven and let stand 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet.
5. For the pasta: Boil water with some salt and then add the pasta and cook until done.
6. For the sauce: In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat, bring milk and garlic just to a boil.
7. Stir in the crumbled blue cheese and asiago cheese. Mix the cold water and cornstarch in a small bowl and the pour into the sauce pan and it should thicken instantly. Season to taste with the pepper.
8. Add some extra Frank's hot sauce to the plate along with some celery sticks.

Paired with Supper Club Beer