Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Gluten Free Vegetarian Meatballs.... Yep!

There are so many Vegetarian options out there, until you take "gluten" off the table. Almost every "meatball" or sausage or anything else I have tried to purchase is full of gluten. I am setting out to make some gluten free meatballs.

The process is quite easy in my opinion. Not any more difficult than my regular meatball process I go through. Quite tasty too. I would not force this on my meat lover husband and son. But it is perfect for my daughter and I.

Ingredients
1 lb firm tofu, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
3/4 tsp salt
generous amounts of freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese
1 egg yolk, beaten
1/4 cup gluten-free bread crumbs, or corn tortilla crumbs processed extra fine.
1 tsp italian seasonings
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
more freshly ground pepper
2  tbsp. olive oil
marinara sauce
fresh basil for serving
additional grated parmesan or romano


Slice tofu horizontally
and wrap in paper towels
and put a cutting board on top of the wrapped tofu. Put something on top of the cutting board, like a pot, for additional weight.
 Leave it to drain for 20 minutes. Then wrap it in a clean thin cotton dishtowel, knead it and squeeze as much water out of it as possible.

Knead the tofu in a large bowl for five minutes and then add the garlic, green onions, fennel seeds, parsley, salt, pepper, and cheese. Knead it for another few minutes.
Whisk the egg and work it into the tofu dough.

Combine the ground bread crumbs, spices and pepper in a large flat bowl or pie pan. Make small, walnut-sized balls out of the tofu dough and roll each ball in the dough.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan or well-seasoned cast-iron pan on medium and fry your tofu meatballs on each side until golden brown.

Then simmer in marinara sauce for 15 minutes. I made the mistake of simmering too long. 15- 20 minutes is perfect. 


Serve on gluten-free french bread with fresh basil leaves or on gluten-free spaghetti, sprinkled with additional grated cheese and chopped basil.

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2 comments:

  1. I love your blog! I can't wait to try this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope you like them! Come back and let me know what you think!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you! I love comments!

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