As a kid I ate mushrooms in only three forms: on pizza, in pasta sauce, or in cream of mushroom soup. I've significantly expanded my appreciation of the cute little fungi as an adult, but I really only love them when they are cooked. (I'm not gonna lie, I can only eat a few raw mushrooms at a time...and then it is usually in a salad or with dip. The texture isn't my favorite when they are uncooked.)
This mushroom-heavy, vegetarian recipe is one that is good on pasta or as the filling of a meatball sandwich, and the original recipe claims it makes good burger patties, too. (The original is in a book called "The Clueless Vegetarian." I posted my version of the Spicy Peanut Pasta from this book earlier).
The choice of mushrooms is yours. I used white button once and a mix of button and portbellos once. This most recent time was just the button ones, and I even used the pre-sliced 'shrooms. I just chopped them up more--it was a timesaver and they were cheaper than the whole ones when I was at the store.
I've done the meatball version twice now, each time slightly differently because of what ingredients I had in the house at the time. But, hey, I liked it both times! The secret is to get to a consistency that sticks together. I also highly recommend letting the mix sit in the fridge overnight. The ingredients meld together and the oats are less obviously oat-y that way.
Also, it looks like a lot of instructions, but this takes only one skillet, one bowl, and one cookie sheet. It could be summed up as: cook veggies, cool, mix into a mush, let it sit, roll into balls, bake.
Makes: about 23 to 24 meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1 to 1.5 pounds mushrooms*
- 0.5 to 1 medium onion
- 2+ cloves garlic
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs**
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup oats (I used old fashioned--also called rolled--oats)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp. salt
- black pepper, to taste (1/4 to 1/2 tsp.)
- other herbs/spices, if you want them.
* When I had 1.5 pounds of mushrooms I used half an onion, but when I had only 1 pound of mushrooms I used the whole onion. It still worked.
**For oats and breadcrumbs, use 2/3 cup of one and 3/4 cup of the other. The original calls for more of the breadcrumbs, but I ran out of breadcrumbs making the most recent version and only had 2/3 cup. So I just used more oats. It was completely fine. Seriously. This isn't rocket science.
Directions:
- Chop mushrooms fairly small, but doesn't have to be minced or anything
- Chop onion smaller than mushrooms, in the diced/minced range.
- Mince garlic (or use it out of a jar, if you are me!)
- Heat a large skillet, on medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray (or use oil, whichever you prefer)
- Add the mushrooms, onion, and garlic.
- Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. The key is to cook everything until all the liquid is released from the mushrooms AND that liquid has evaporated.
- Transfer veggies to a medium bowl and let cool. (This is important...otherwise you will cook your eggs and they won't hold your meatballs together!)
- Add bread crumbs, oats, cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper.
- Mix until everything is combined and all mushy
- Cover and put in fridge (The original says "at least 15 minutes or as long as overnight." I'd say several hours or overnight is best--see above in description)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray
- Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet
- Lightly spray tops with non-stick spray
- Bake for 15 minutes,then turn over and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until browned and sizzling.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated the oven. You can also reheat them in sauce or the microwave, but they lose the oven-cooked texture
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