Who needs to go out for a fancy Italian dinner when you can make this popular vegetarian dish right at home. Schedule an inside date night and get cooking.
Skill: Medium
Time: 45mins
SERVINGS: 4-6
Type: Italian
Cookware & Utensils
Ingredients
- 6 oz spaghetti, liguine, or other style pasta
- 1 medium eggplant
- ¼ cup sweet onion
- ¼ cup red onion
- ½ cup Italian parsley
- ½ cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- Vegetable oil or grapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
CALORIES: 315G
FAT: 18.5G
FIBER: 3G
PROTEIN: 10G
Instructions
Cut the vegetables
Start by finely chopping ¼ cup of each – sweet onion and red onion, ½ cup parsley and mince 3 cloves of garlic.
Peel the eggplant, chop off the stem and discard. Once the skin is removed, cut the eggplant into ½ inch cubes. If the eggplant is bruised and seeds are really brown, toss it out, that eggplant is unfit for this romantic evening.
Cook the mixture
Place the red and sweet onion in a large fry pan or wok over medium heat for 3 minutes or until translucent. Add in the garlic and eggplant cubes, then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Sauté for another 10 minutes, until the eggplant has reduced in size and lightly browned.
Set up a medium bowl with a mesh strainer resting on the edge. Transfer cooked eggplant mixture to your mesh strainer (see picture). Pressing with a rubber spatula, drain as much liquid as you can from the eggplant mixture. Dispose of the liquid and transfer eggplant mixture to a large clean bowl.
Finish the mixture
Add 2 eggs, ½ cup parmesan, ½ cup parsley and 1 cup bread crumbs to the eggplant mixture. Mix thoroughly until combined evenly. Next, warm up vegetable oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat.
Time to make meatballs!
In this order – set up your eggplant mixture bowl, a plate with extra breadcrumbs and an empty plate to place your finished meatballs. Lightly wet your hands to prevent the meatballs from sticking. Using a small spoon, scoop and shape your meatball, no larger than a ping pong ball. Form into a round ball, coat in breadcrumbs, then place on your empty plate.
Boil pasta
Get a pot of boiling water water ready. Once boiling, pour in raw pasta and cook to package instructions.
Fry the meatballs
Warning – you may want an apron. Place the uncooked meatballs into the hot oil. I can usually fit about 10 meatballs in the pan. They should instantly start to sizzle. If not, crank up the heat a little more. Cook meatballs for about 4-5 minutes a side, or until medium brown. Flip over with a spoon and repeat until evenly cooked all over.
Transfer meatballs to a cooling rack (with a layer of paper towel for easy clean up) and repeat with the next batch.
