"Meatballs" in Spicy Tomato Sauce

What a beautiful small plate

As I mentioned in my earlier post today, this Sunday Serving is one of the recipes I made yesterday at my first cooking class, Vegetarian Spanish Tapas. I adopted it from a meat recipe in a book my step-mom gave me that I would assume she bought in Spain because all the measurements were in metric. Skillfully overcoming that challenge with the internet, I managed to create a simple, yet tasty dish with vegetarian meatballs that actually held together well and a smooth tomato sauce to accompany it. I have seen vegetarian meatballs in a few flavor in the freezer section and I wouldn't hold it against you if you cheated with these, but I have to say these are pretty easy to make as long as you don't mind a bit of a mess in handling the meatball mixture and rolling them into balls. We'll continue next week, as promised to my class, with the Potato and Spinach Tortilla recipe that I didn't get to yesterday. Salud!

“Meatballs” with Spicy Tomato Sauce (Albondigas)

Adapted from a recipe in The Best 100 Tapas

Servings: 6 (about 30 balls total)

Time: 40 minutes active and total

Type: Vegetarian, except for the egg which I believe you could use egg replacer with quite easily

Price: ~$8.00 total; <$1.50 per serving

Nutrition (per serving):

Calories: 249.1

Protein: 17.7g

Fat: 8.5g

Saturated Fat: 2.1g

Cholesterol: 37.1mg

Sodium: 876.4mg

Carbohydrates: 24.8g

Fiber: 3.41g

Sauce:

½ Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large carrot, chopped

1 large or 2 plum tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp salt and pepper, each

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, depending on taste

1 Tbsp flour

2 cups vegetable stock

“Meatballs”:

½ lb “ground beef” (I used Lightlife)

½ lb “ground sausage” in tube (I used Gimme Lean)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup soy milk

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

1 egg

Flour

1-2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

For the sauce:

1. Fry onion, garlic and carrot in olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 5-8 minutes.

2. Add the tomato, seasonings and flour. Let flour toast 1-2 minutes.

3. Add stock, raise heat and bring to a boil. Then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

4. Puree the sauce in a food processor and keep warm.

For the “meatballs”:

1. While the sauce is simmering, puree all the ingredients except the flour and olive oil in a food processor.

2. Heat skillet over medium heat. Using a Tbsp or hands coated with cooking spray, form balls, dredge in flour and fry until browned.

3. Serve 2-3 balls at a time with a spoonful of sauce and garnish with extra parsley.