My omnivore husband made himself some ground turkey meatballs, so switched up my original plan for eggplant tacos and made this recipe instead. I'm actually pretty excited to make the swap. These took a bit of time, but it wasn't overly complicated. Definitely delicious. Excited to use the leftovers for a meatball sub tomorrow.
What I changed:
Halved the recipe
Used white mushrooms instead have portobello mushrooms
Replaced parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast
Source: Pinch Me Good | Makes: 7-10 | Time: 1 hr
Ingredients
1 small #eggplant, peeled and diced
1 cup #mushrooms, destemmed and chopped
1 tbsp EVO
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Dash black pepper
1/3 cup #cashews, pulsed in a food processor or crushed
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 Bob's Red Mill egg replacer
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced cilantro
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Add the diced eggplant to a medium-size mixing bowl, drizzle on one tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread the eggplant out evenly on half of the baking sheet.
Add the sliced mushrooms to the same mixing bowl you tossed the eggplant in and drizzle them with one tablespoon of olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle on the one tablespoon of dried thyme and pepper and toss.
Lay the mushrooms out evenly on the other half of the baking sheet that the eggplant is on and bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven. Once the veggies are finished cooking, set them aside to cool for a few minutes.
After the veggies are cooled, add them to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are minced and resemble ground meat. Pour the mixture into a medium-size mixing bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Cover and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat and turn the oven down to 400F.
Using an ice cream scoop or just your hands, form even sized balls with the mixture and place them evenly onto the baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown.
I served over Rustachella d'Abruzzo strozzapreti and topped with Di Bruno Bros arrabiata sauce (quite spicy and something different than the same ol' sweet basil sauce.