Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Cannellini Bean No Meat "Meatballs" with Tomato Sauce

My youngest daughter needed to make a vegetarian meal using beans for her humanities class.  One of her favourite meals is spaghetti so we found this recipe to try
(adapted from http://www.cookincanuck.com).
Cannellini beans sounds kind of exotic and maybe hard to find.....but no worries.  It's only a fancy name for white kidney beans!

1 roasted red pepper, roughly chopped
22 oz can cannellini beans, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup packed chopped spinach
1/2 onion, grated
1  1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

3 cups tomato sauce
250 g cooked spaghetti
parmesan cheese to serve

You can buy roasted red peppers, but there's nothing to making them yourself. Simply broil whole pepper turning every 2-3 minutes until each side is slightly blackened. Remove from oven and place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for about 5 minutes.

Once cool enough to handle, cut in half, remove seeds and slip off the peel.

Place the pepper and rinsed beans in a food processor and pulse until chopped.  You don't want a purée.

In a large bowl mix the bean/pepper mixture with the remaining ingredients up to and including the bread crumbs.

Line a  baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.

Make 2 tbsp size balls and place on sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Take the "meatballs" and add to your tomato sauce.
We used this recipe

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2013/09/roasted-tomato-garlic-basil-sauce.html

but you could use any sauce you like.

Simmer on low 10-15 minutes.  Serve on spaghetti with parmesan to top.

I wasn't sure if I would like non-meat meatballs, but I really did enjoy them.  And my daughter did a great job making them! 












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