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.
