Description
Shiitake mushroom based “meatballs” for a hearty vegetarian dish that can easily be veganized with a few swaps.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb shiitake mushrooms
- 1 small white onion
- 1 cup fine, steel-cut quick-cook oats
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 whole eggs ((can use flax egg to make vegan))
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp tsp rosemary
- Parmesan, grated ((you can swap this for nutritional yeast))
Angel hair in red sauce
- 1 serving angel hair pasta
- red sauce, I prefer Rao’s if not making homemade
Truffled ravioli
- 1 serving ravioli of your choice ((I used Trader Joe’s Porcini Mushroom & Truffle ravioli))
- 1 tbsp truffle oil
- 2 tbsp butter ((I used Miyoko’s vegan butter – it’s PERFECT for a garlic butter sauce))
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Coat a pan in olive oil, and bring heat to medium.
- Finely dice onion, and sautee in oil for roughly 7 minutes.
- Dice mushrooms, and add to the pan with your three cloves of minced garlic. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the onions start brown.
- Remove mushrooms and onions from heat, and allow to cool.
- Add the oats, bread crumbs, eggs, and herbs and mix thoroughly (using your *clean* hands works best).
- If you want a really even texture, you can blast this mixture in a food processor blender, but it’s not necessary.
- If making a day ahead, cover the mixture in a bowl and allow the flavors to meld together overnight in the fridge (though again, not necessary).
- Mold the mixture into balls, using a tablespoon as a rough guide to keep sizes consistent. You can coat them in another layer of breadcrumbs if you wish.
- Heat a pan with olive oil at medium heat and fry meatballs, rotating every couple of minutes to get an even brown on each size. Or, bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes (time is dependent on the individual oven, so keep an eye on them!)
Notes
I made these mushroom meatballs four ways: coated in breadcrumbs + pan fried, coated in breadcrumbs + baked, as well as not coated + pan fried, and not coated + baked. Each version was great in different ways. Pan fried is definitely a denser experience, reminiscent of an Italianized mushroom falafel. Coating them in breadcrumbs helps with the frying and prevented sticking and allowed for a great texture. Baking was, of course, lighter and the uncoated version was moist and a deliciously classic “meatball style”, which ultimately made it my favorite version for using in pastas.