As you all know, I’m in love with my Food Network Magazine. In a recent issue I found a recipe for Eggplant Meatballs. Now, I’m not sure why they call them meatballs since there is no meat in them, so we here just called them eggplant balls. I had just picked up my Utah Food Co-Op order. Lo and behold… there was an eggplant in there! Color me excited since that night it was going to be pasta with eggplant. And eggplant meatballs it was.

Hubby was skeptical, of course. He grew up in such a meat & potatoes house that sometimes something a little different is scary. His first question was whether there would also be ground beef in the meatballs. Uh, no. Not this time. That meant I also had to bake some chicken skewers so he can have his meat with his pasta but that was ok. I don’t mind doing something a little extra for him. For me, it was going to be vegetarian all the way. But…… once I had them in the oven, I realized I forgot to add the egg.  UGH!  What did that do to my meatballs? Well, read on after the recipe and you’ll find out.

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Pasta with Eggplant “Meat” Balls

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Serves	4
Prep time	25 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hours, 25 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Main Dish
From magazine	Food Network Magazine

Ingredients

• 1 Medium eggplant
• 1 Large egg (lightly beaten)
• 3/4 cups great northern beans (cooked or rinsed if from a can)
• 1 Large clove garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 cup parsley flakes
• 2/3 cups grated parmesan cheese
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 8oz pasta (cooked)

Directions

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Prick the eggplant 4-6 times with a fork. Roast the eggplant 40-50 minutes. Let rest for 20 minutes to cool.

Step 2

Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides. Discard the outer skin. Place it in a bowl and mix in the egg, garlic and beans. Add garlic, parsley, parmesan and salt & pepper.

Step 3

Add the panko and form into balls, about the size of a golf ball. Arrange the on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly mist the top of the balls with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Step 4

While the meatballs cook, warm the marinara and cook the pasta according to package directions. Serve the meatballs on top of the pasta and sauce.

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If you’ve made any type of meatball in the past, you know the egg is important to hold it all together. I’m thought “epic meatball fail” when I realized I left the egg out.  But….. they were still so good. Leaving the egg out didn’t do anything to make them less flavorful. All it did was make them a little squishy (if that word even works here) and they weren’t as firm as they ought to be but nonetheless, they were delicious.

My fail wasn’t a fail when all was said and done. We still had a delicious dinner and making pasta with eggplant instead of pasta with beef lightened it up considerably. Hubby liked them too, but still prefers beef meatballs over eggplant.

To see more pasta recipes, follow my Pinterest Pasta board.

Follow Lori’s Culinary’s board Pasta Recipes on Pinterest.