Cannellini Bean “Meatballs” with Tomato Sauce

We are constantly on the look out for delicious vegetarian cuisine. While both The Other Williams and I love meat, we do try to have 1-3 vegetarian dinners a week. We like our vegetarian meals to make us feel like we're eating meat.

Texture plays a big part in making a good vegetarian dish great. We added mushrooms to the original recipe to give us a little firmer texture. The meatballs are outstanding and the red pepper really makes these balls pop.

Whenever we make meatballs of any kind we make a full batch and freeze the rest. These bean balls were no different. They froze beautifully. You could certainly freeze them with or without the tomato sauce.



Cannellini Bean “Meatballs” with Tomato Sauce
Recipe modified from Cookin Canuck
Yields: 4

Ingredients

1 ½ cans (15 oz. each) Bush’s Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed
1 roasted red bell pepper (2 halves), roughly chopped
½ medium yellow onion, grated

2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
1 egg
½ cup dried breadcrumbs (see note)
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 cups of The Best Tomato Sauce EVER! (Or your favorite marinara)
1 cup cremini mushroom, sliced
Parmesan cheese for grating
Cooked Linguine

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine beans and roasted red peppers. Pulse until chopped, but not smoothly pureed.
Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized bowl and stir in grated onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper until well combined.
Using a rounded 2 tablespoon portion of the bean mixture, form “meatballs” by rolling between the palms of your hands. Place the “meatballs” on the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly.
Bake until the meatballs are firm to the touch and have developed a light golden brown coating, 15 to 20 minutes.
In a large saucepan, heat your sauce and the mushrooms over medium heat until simmering. Add “meatballs” and stir to coat. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve over linguine and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

The amount of breadcrumbs required can change depending on the climate (dry vs. humid). If you find that the "meatballs" are not holding together firmly as your shaping the first few, add more breadcrumbs, then reshape.