Dad’s Favorite Italian Eggplant Meatballs

Yield: 40 meatballs

Author: Lisa Zapatka

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Dad's Favorite Italian Eggplant Meatballs

My Dad can't get enough of these meatballs! He's even learned to make them himself!

You can serve them traditionally with sauce. We like to eat them cold on slider rolls with mayonnaise. They have almost a meatloaf-like texture. Mr. Heavy Handed likes to add a dash of Tabasco Sauce and bread & buttle pickle chip which he makes himself.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds unpeeled eggplant, cut in 1” pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 - 15.5 ounce cans cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 3-4 cups of Italian bread crumbs
• Olive oil
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft, 4 minutes. Add the garlic, stir and cook 1 more minute. Remove to a bowl.
2. Cook and puree the eggplant in 3 batches.
3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pot, then 1/3 of the eggplant and 1/2 cup of water. Season with salt and pepper, cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add 1/3 of the sautéed onions & garlic, 1/3 of the beans and 1/3 of the parsley. Pulse everything until combined and chopped, but not pureed.
4. Remove mixture to a large bowl. Then repeat 2 more batches.
5. Once all 3 batches are in the large bowl add 2 eggs, 2 tsp salt & 1 tsp pepper, and 3-4 cups bread crumbs. Start with a cup, mix well and let it sit a few minutes for the bread crumbs to absorb the liquid. You will most likely need to add the 4th cup of bread crumbs.
6. I use medium scoop to form the meatballs. Place on large greased baking sheet about an 1.5” apart. Bake at 400 for 50-60 minutes until firm and brown.
7. Makes 40 meatballs
8. You can cut the recipe in half if you don’t want to make that many. They do freeze well!