Hello, My Friends! How I’ve missed you! If you can’t tell, the autumn season is my favorite time to create new recipes. Please forgive me for not posting in several months! I am just happy to be here and so thankful you are taking the time to check out my latest content.
I love Italian food and enjoy the occasional indulgence with all the cheesy goodness… but thought I’d try making a healthy veggie sauce so I can remain faithful to a whole-food plant based lifestyle for the majority of the week, even when the cravings kick in.
The idea behind this recipe is to fill up on food that will act as fuel, keep us energized and give us the vitamins, fiber and protein we need. This is not a one pan meal and will take a little time to prepare, but it is still pretty easy. You can choose to use any pasta you like, but I wanted to stick with an all plant meal, so I spiraled and sautéed a couple small sweet potatoes to use as my noodles and it was delicious! One small sweet potato works as one serving of pasta.
To save time, cook the lentils while preparing the eggplant. Once both are finished cooking and have cooled a bit, they can be smashed and the other ingredients can be added before forming into balls and baking.
Just a side note… I realized after roasting the eggplant that I should’ve peeled it… The skin was a little chewy, so do yourself a favor and peel it ahead of time if you think of it!
Roasted Eggplant & Lentil-balls with Veggie Red Sauce
The red sauce coupled with the lentil-balls are packed with flavor and nutrients!
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small shallot, finely diced
- ¼ cup red or yellow bell pepper, diced
- ¼ cup baby bella mushroom, diced
- 28 oz can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- ½ tsp Italian Seasoning
- Splash of balsamic vinegar
- Splash of maple syrup or pinch of sugar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Roasted eggplant & Lentil-balls
- 1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
- 1 ½ -2 cups veggie broth
- 1 medium sized eggplant, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup bread crumbs (I used gluten free panko)
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax, 3 tbsp water, mixed and set for a couple minutes)
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp Italian Seasoning
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
- Step 1 For the sauce, in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Once oil is hot enough, toss in garlic, shallots and peppers, sauté for a couple minutes until shallots are translucent but garlic is not burning. Add mushrooms and sauté another minute. Add remaining ingredients, turn down and let simmer for at least 25 minutes.
- Step 2 Cooking the lentils: In a saucepan add lentils and broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, checking consistency to see if need to simmer longer. Texture should be soft but not falling apart. Add more broth or water as needed.
- Step 3 Cooking the Eggplant: Preheat oven to 400. Peel and chop eggplant and toss in 2 tablespoons olive oil, a pinch of Italian Seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. On a parchment lined cookie sheet, bake for 20 minutes. Flip eggplant, bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Step 4 Once eggplant and lentils have cooked and cooled, use a potato masher to smash. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes in 400 degree oven.
- Step 5 Serve with pasta of choice and garnish with parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast flakes.