Chef John's Meatless Meatballs

By SewingDragonfly

From allrecipes.com

My Notes: I made these 5/6/14 for Christopher. I mixed them up as noted and left in the refrigerator until the morning of 5/8/14. I baked them as directed and they came out great. They actually shaped up better than the meat version I did. They also baked up very nice and had a great flavor to them. After baking and cooling, I put back in the fridge and heated in sauce to serve with pasta on 5/9/14. Would definitely make again.

Ingredients

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 lb fresh white mushrooms, finely chopped with food processor
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 oz very finely shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley, packed
• 2 eggs, divided
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 pinch dried oregano
• 3 cups pasta sauce

Details

Servings 16

Preparation

Step 1

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms to the hot oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook and stir until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated. Stir butter into mushrooms, reduce heat to medium, and cook and stir mushrooms until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Stir onion into mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent, 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir garlic into mushroom mixture until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl.

Mix oats into mushroom mixture until thoroughly combined. Gently stir Parmesan into mixture. Add breadcrumbs, parsley and 1 egg; season with salt and black pepper, cayenne pepper and oregano. Mix together with a fork until crumbly. Stir in remaining 1 egg. Mixture should hold together when pressed.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours. For best results, flavor and texture; refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 450°. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Form mixture into small meatballs using a 2 T scoop (about 1 oz). Roll meatballs lightly between your hands until smooth, arrange on prepared baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are lightly golden brown, 12-15 minutes.

Bring pasta sauce to a boil in a large saucepan; reduce heat to low. Gently stir meatballs into sauce until coated. Simmer meatballs in sauce until heated through.