MEATLESS MEATBALLS
REINVENTING THE MEAL
Our friend Tom is a meatball master, and it was his mushroom and cannellini bean balls that sparked the inspiration for this meatless meatball section. So comforting, so delicious. The mushroom balls can be frozen in an airtight container so you might want to double the batch and keep some for later.
MEATLESS MEATBALLS SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 10 MINUTES / COOKING 10 MINUTES
1½ tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic
3-4 field mushrooms, roughly chopped ½ lemon, diced
1 x 400g can cannellini beans juice of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped parsley
¾ cup breadcrumbs
Heat the oil in a saucepan on a medium heat. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms and the diced lemon. Cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Add beans, lemon juice, parsley and breadcrumbs and gently mash about half the beans. The mixture will be quite thick and sticky. Remove from heat and let it cool. Once bean mixture is cool, roll into golf ball-sized portions.
LEMON & FENNEL MEATBALL BAKE SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 15 MINUTES / COOKING 40 MINUTES
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 fennel bulb, cut into wedges meatless meatballs (see recipe) ½ lemon, sliced
½ preserved lemon, thinly sliced grated cheese, to serve
Heat a heavy baking dish to a high heat, add olive oil then the fennel, cut-side down. Cook for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for a further 5 minutes. Pour ½ cup water into the pan and place in the oven at 180°C for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the meatballs to the dish then add the fresh lemon slices. Return to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes. Remove and cover with slivers of preserved lemon and grated cheese of choice.
TRY THESE 1 SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS
In a hot, oiled pan, put 2 diced onions, 2 garlic cloves, 2 anchovy fillets, 1 teaspoon tomato paste and 1 teaspoon fennel seeds and gently fry for 10 minutes. Add 2 cans tomatoes and 1 heaped tablespoon honey. Cook on a low-medium heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. In another pan, fry the meatballs to give them some colour and crust. Serve on fresh al dente pasta with a heaped spoonful of tomato sauce and a grating of cheese. Any leftover sauce freezes really well.
2 MEATBALL SUB
Make a tomato sauce such as the one from the spaghetti and meatballs recipe and set aside. In a long bun of your choice, layer butter, mayonnaise, hot sauce, pickles then fried meatballs and spoonfuls of sauce. Also put a smear of sauce on the top bun and top with grated cheese. Place both sides of bun, cut side up, under the grill until the cheese melts and gets some colour. Eat over a large plate or the sink and have ready a means of cleaning your hands, face and forearms.
3 MEATBALLS THE NEXT DAY
If you’ve made a tomato sauce for one of the previous recipes, use that: otherwise add a can of tomatoes to a hot, oiled pan with a diced onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon honey and some fennel seeds. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down to low and add the uncooked meatballs. Make little wells in the tomato sauce and crack in 4 eggs. Cover with a lid and cook until egg white is cooked through. Eat from the pan with a loaf of warmed crusty bread.
4 GRILLED MEATBALLS WITH SALSA VERDE
In a food processor, blitz a large bunch parsley, some mint, juice of 2 lemons, a good grating of parmesan, toasted pinenuts, 1 tablespoon sugar and a drizzle of olive oil. Blend to combine into a loose sauce. Over the grill, cook meatballs until nicely coloured all over, being careful not to break when turning. Alternatively, cook under the grill in the oven. Serve hot with spoonfuls of salsa verde.