In spite of the extremely wet weather this gardening season, the eggplant did very well. To help members find creative ways to use eggplant, I tried this recipe and it is quite tasty. I did freeze a few of them to see how they fare when being thawed and reheated, but that hasn’t happened yet. Will let you know how they do.
(post edited on September 15, 2013)
I have since “tweaked” this recipe to work much, much, better. When the eggplant was sauteed in a pan via the orginal recipe it came out wet and soupy, so I “became the eggplant”. Roasting on paper in the oven cooks it much drier so it makes the meatballs stick together a LOT better. The original recipe also calls for baking them in the oven which works okay, but doing them on a covered grill works better and gives them great flavor. ALSO, I made up a BUNCH of these and froze them, prior to cooking. I have taken some out and cooked them from frozen and they were delicious, so there you go–a great way to use up extra eggplant!
Eggplant Meatballs
1 large or several small eggplant
1 tsp garlic powder
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup parmesan or romano cheese
black pepper, to taste
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
sea salt, to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs
Peel and slice eggplant and sprinkle with salt. Let sit 10 minutes to draw out water. Rinse and pat dry. Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the eggplant is soft. Remove and let it cool then chop finely (I used a food processor). Mix everything but the breadcrumbs. Add breadcrumbs and mix until you get the consistency you want to form the balls (I had to add quite a few more breadcrumbs to get them as “stiff” as I wanted. Form into balls and place in a generously olive-oiled pan about 1 inch apart and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 40-60 minutes. Turn halfway through baking to ensure even browning. I did them in the oven once and in the grill once. I liked them from the grill better–it seemed to dry out more of the moisture.
Serve as you would regular meatballs.
from Recipezaar.com
Wild Things Farm 