Meatless Meatballs

Meatballs are fun. Like a square caramel, you never know what’s hiding inside, but it’s probably pretty good. They can be an entrée or an app, so really, what’s not to love? Well, maybe the meat, if you are vegetarianly inclined. I decided to create veggieballs because 1.) Anything carnivores can do, herbivores can do, too. 2.) They’re round, so my kids might eat them. And 3.) Farmers’ market loot had taken over the fridge, leaving no room for wine. A friend had seen eggplant meatballs featured on a cooking show. A quick Google search yielded a dozen recipes, all with time-consuming prep: sweating the eggplant, sautéing the eggplant in small batches, growing the eggplant from scratch. Ever the exhausted (lazy) chef, I chopped up some eggplant, mushrooms and onion, and baked it all in the same pan. Pulse in the food processor. Squeeze into balls. Bake again. And just like that, I made tender, juicy, vegetarian meatballs. Instant success is a new phenomenon for me, so figuring I couldn’t possibly have gotten it right on the first try – there must be something even better out there – I added feta to the mix. Gasp. Its salty, melty goodness gave the veggieballs enough heft to stand alone as hors d’oeuvres. A trip to Ranoush in U. City inspired a combo of chickpeas, diced tomatoes and garlic. Pulse, squeeze, bake. The result: veggieballs that referenced both falafel and pasta e ceci. Veggieball fusion! I was a veggieball magician, waving my food processor at any three flavors that generally work together. Pulse, squeeze, bake. How could I go wrong? Well, the same way it goes horribly wrong when I set people up on a blind date. Just because some of my favorite flavors are lovely and charming and deserve to find happiness doesn’t mean they will actually mix well together. The following foods should never, ever be combined into veggieballs: - Peas, carrots and corn. This tastes like the upper left corner of a TV dinner. - Lentils, black beans, and Trader Joe’s Corn and Chili Tomato-Less Salsa. It results in a dry, gritty veggieball that in no way resembles the party app. - Fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella and raspberry jam. My favorite sandwich = a mauve-colored disasterball. In the end, my best veggieballs were my first. But you should experiment with your own ingredient combinations. As I said, meatballs are fun. Visit the Extra Sauce section of SauceMagazine.com for Kellie’s recipe for chickpea-based veggieballs, Veggieballs e Cici. Eggplant and Mushroom Veggieballs 5 servings or approximately 20 veggie meatballs 1 whole eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced 1 medium onion, quartered 1/3 cup olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ tsp. sea salt ¼ tsp. freshly ground white pepper Cooking spray 1 egg, gently whisked ½ cup panko breadcrumbs • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. • Combine the first 8 ingredients in a plastic bag, and shake to evenly coat the vegetables. • Coat a 15-by-10-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the vegetables evenly in the dish and bake, uncovered, • 30 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. • Stir the egg and panko into the eggplant mixture and transfer to a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. • Working in small batches, pulse until the mixture is minced, not puréed. • Form the mixture firmly into 1½-inch balls. (It’s OK if the mixture is wet.) • Bake in a glass dish covered in cooking spray for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the veggieballs to stand 5 minutes before serving with Easy Red Sauce (recipe follows) and cooked spaghetti noodles. * Appetizer option: Fold 1 cup feta into the minced eggplant mixture. Form into 1-inch round balls. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes approximately 30 appetizer-sized veggieballs. Easy Red Sauce 1 15-oz. can tomato sauce 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes 1 Tbsp. sugar ¼ tsp. salt 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes • Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until the flavors blend and the sauce thickens, approximately 5 minutes. For a Mediterranean twist on this classic Italian dish, click here.