These were something found by googling around for vegetarian things to eat with pasta. It sounded sufficiently weird that I felt like I had to give it a shot just to see what the hell it tasted like. Turns out they’re not bad! They don’t really taste anything like a meatball but they’re good in their own right.
This isn’t exactly how I made it, but it’s close. When I made it, they never really firmed up and stayed a little wet, which meant that they would just fall apart in the sauce. I tweaked this a couple ways, hopefully that helps fix it.
Ingredients
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
2 cups water or stock
1/2 pound mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 cup rolled oats (also called old fashioned oats)
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 eggs
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the lentils and broth to a saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for ten minutes. Remove from the heat, drain, and let cool.
Heat some oil in a skillet and saute the onions for five minutes, until they soften. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue cooking until the mushrooms are fully cooked, maybe another ten minutes. Add the red wine and soy sauce and continue cooking until the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from the heat and let cool.
In a food processor, combine the mushrooms, lentils, and all the remaining ingredients and pulse until well chopped but not totally mush; it should have a consistency similar to couscous.
Form the mixture into balls, about golf ball sized. Place them on the baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. I don’t know what else it goes well with, but it’s great with marinara.
eatbensmeat 