Vegetarian meatballs

We are back from our holiday!  Two loads of washing are on the line (in glorious sunny windy washing weather), Zinc is back from the cat motel, we are mostly unpacked and I have bread proving.  I will write about our trip to Orange soon.  Just now my energy levels are well suited to finishing off a half-written post about vegetarian meatballs that I made a few weeks back.

I found this recipe at the Nummy Kitchen while surfing the net and was curious because it used cottage cheese and nuts.  My favourite vegetarian sausage rolls and my favourite Christmas nut roast used cottage cheese.  When I had some leftover cottage cheese in the fridge I decided to try it out.  However, I just used what was in the house rather than following the recipe closely.

Andrea at Nummy Kitchen baked her vegetarian meatballs.  I thought it might be quicker to shallow fry so Sylvia could have some.  She didn't really eat them the first night but tried one or two the night night.  I ended up baking them as well.  They were good but I preferred them the second night after I compared mine to the recipe and remembered that Andrea had cooked hers in tomato sauce.  I whipped up some tomato sauce and served these with rice and lightly fried chopped vegies.  This was a far better way to serve them.

Now I will share with you my dilemma with this dish.  What is the best name for them?  Vegetarian meatballs seems like an oxymoron.  "Neatballs" and "veatballs" don't sound right.  "Beetballs" would amuse me if they had beetroot in them - but they don't!  "Nut balls" seems to have been seconded for sweet balls.  So like some others, I stick with vegetarian meatballs.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Back to the recipe, I can highly recommend it.  It is tasty and mimics mincemeat quite well, though it lacks the texture of the amazing vegetarian sausage rolls.  Looking around the web, there are lots of ways to serve these "meatballs" - on a sandwich, on top of pizza, in sweet and sour sauce or even in a gravy.  I am sure I will be experimenting further.  This might be an excellent way to serve fresh pasta if I ever get around to using my new pasta machine.

Meanwhile, I need to finish off packing, get the bread in the oven, bring in the washing, give Zinc lots of attention, make dinner and find some time to visit other blogs.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: PPN Whimsical Mushroom and Rhubarb Soup
This time two years ago: Apple and date cake
This time three years ago: Paella with thanks
This time four years ago: Baking cake for climate change

Veggie Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Inspired by Nummy Kitchen 
Serves 4-6

1 cup hazelnut meal
1 cup breadcrumbs
3 eggs
1/2 cup (unpacked) finely grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
250g cottage cheese

Tomato sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2  x 400g tins of diced tomatoes
slurp of whiskey
few good shakes of smoked paprika and oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
water as required

Mix all ingredients and roll into balls the size of a walnut.  Fry lightly in oil and bake for about 30 minutes in a hot oven.

To make tomato sauce: fry onion in oil for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned.  Add remaining ingredients and a bit of water to rinse out the tomato tins.  Bring to the boil and simmer to thicken slightly.  Add meatballs and simmer for a couple of minutes.  Turn over and simmer a few more minutes.  Serve with either pasta or rice.

On the Stereo:
Time Stands Still: The Collection - Rush