Eggplant meatballs with spaghetti

Thanks to a friend at work we tried this recently. Now I did tweek it a bit. I wanted "cheesier" meatballs than what the recipe called for so I added a bit of extra items that I had on hand.

Eggplant Meatballs


2 large eggplants, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
4 slices day-old bread
1 egg
½ cup grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup parsley, chopped
2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Lay the eggplant out on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes, or until they have turned golden brown.  Remove from the oven and turn heat down to 350 degrees F.

Grind the bread slices in the food processor until they’re broken into bread crumbs. Remove about ¼ of the crumbs and set aside. To the processor add in the roasted eggplant and egg and grind together until the mixture becomes a fairly smooth paste. Now add the garlic, cheese and parsley. Pulse to combine. If the mixture is too runny add in more of the additional bread crumbs until it becomes something you can mold.

Form the mixture into small balls and place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through (I split one open just to test).

Serve as you would normal meatballs: over pasta, in a sub or on a toothpick.

This one is a most definite DO AGAIN!  We actually froze the remaining ones for use later.  I think I could possibly add maybe a small amount of cooked lentils to this to boost the protein a bit.