Veggie Meatballs — Locally Simple

Hi All! It's finally the weekend & it's the first weekend of 2018!

Part of my New Years resolutions is to try to adapt recipes to vegetarian options. I took my normal turkey meatball recipe and experimented with some veggies to make the dish just as wholesome. I used eggplant and chickpeas with panko breadcrumbs. You can really use a combination of ingredients and veggies, such as mushrooms, lentils, plain breadcrumbs. I chose this combination because that's what I had in my pantry and it was too cold to venture out to the stores! I think it's down to single digits here so this recipe heated up my apartment quite nicely.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

2 cups of panko breadcrumbs

1 cup of chickpeas

2 Tbsp of Basil

2 Tbsp of Oregano

2 Tbsp of Garlic powder

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup of milk

2-3 slices of bread, (I used a whole wheat bread)

1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out wax paper onto a baking sheet (This makes for easier cleanup afterwards).

Prepare the eggplant by peeling the skin and slicing into cubes. Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of pepper. Place the eggplant cubes in a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat and cook until eggplant has become soft and translucent. Next, in a food processor, combine the drained chickpeas, cooked eggplant, 1/3 cup of panko breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of parmesan, 1/2 Tbsp Basil, 1/2 Tbsp Oregano, 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder. Put the food processor on low speed, until the mixture has blended together. This will be the "meat" for the veggie meatballs. Then, with the lightly beaten egg in one small bowl, the slices of bread mashed into another bowl with the milk poured on top of the bread, place breadcrumbs on a separate dish. Mix in the remaining spices of Basil, Oregano and Garlic into the breadcrumbs dish. Using an ice cream scoop or just a good eye, take about 1-2 Tbsp of the veggie mixture, dip into the egg, take a small amount of the bread and milk mixture, forming into a ball as you go. Then, roll into the breadcrumbs and place onto the wax paper. This should make about 1 dozen veggie meatballs. Place into the oven for about 20-25 minutes, turning over the meatballs half way through baking. The meatballs should be a golden brown and should be a firmer.

In the meantime, while that's cooking, place a pot on the stovetop over very low heat, and put your favorite tomato sauce into the pot, just warming it and adding extra basil, oregano and garlic where necessary. When the meatballs are finished baking, transfer them to the sauce so that they can cook a bit more and the sauce takes on more flavor. You can cook everything on the stovetop for an additional 20-25 minutes, just over low heat and serve immediately or put into a microwavable bowl for future serving. When serving, top with additional parmesan and serve over pasta or more veggies!