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Tuesday 22 July 2014

Walnut meat balls with Italian spaghetti.

A friends mum made me these meat balls about 3 years ago and they were so yum. I totally forgot about them until recently and boy am I happy I remembered.
The idea of 'nut meat' is pretty old fashion and a bit hippieish but those recipes were all the rage in the 70's and I love them.
The walnuts make a surprisingly 'meaty' texture and you don't need to add any binder to hold them together.



Wanut meatballs with Italian spaghetti

Ingredients:

Meatballs-
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves
2 cups button mushrooms
Dried basil and oregano
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
Salt
pepper


Sauce-
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup red wine
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 red capsicum
Italian herbs
Fresh basil
Fresh thyme
1 cup water with
1 teaspoon vegetable stock
salt
pepper

To finish-
Fresh basil
1/2 Pack spaghetti
Melty vegan cheese to serve

Method:

Finely chop onions and mushroom and fry on a low heat with 2 Tablespoons olive oil until nice and soft. Add chopped garlic and saute.
Place walnuts, yeast, herbs, bread crumbs, onion and mushroom mix in a blender and blend until you are able to ball it up in your hands. If it is too wet add some more bread crumbs.
Roll into about 12 balls and place on baking paper in a moderate oven for about 20 mins or until becoming golden.

While the meat balls are in the oven finely chop the onions, garlic and capsicum and place in a pan with a little olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and sauté until onions are see through. Add the tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add the wine and the herbs and simmer for a few minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes water and stock and simmer for about 30 minutes until thickened.
Cook pasta and serve with meatballs and loads of grated cheese and basil.




They look legit don't they? It surprising how well they stay together and how much texture the walnuts give the balls.


I don't eat a lot of pasta but from now on when ever I do it will be with these little guys. YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!!




4 comments:

  1. Any other nut to use allergic to walnuts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried it with any other nuts. The walnuts provide a really good texture and I'm not sure any other nut would work in that same way. Let me know if you find something that works well.

      Delete
  2. WOW those Buddha cups sound amazing! How did you go?

    ReplyDelete