I've had my eye on this drop meatball recipe for a while now. Rather than cooking the meatballs in advance and then adding them to the sauce, you add them to the sauce raw and cook both the sauce and meatballs together. This came together very easily and, although quite simple, was also very tasty. I think a few handfulls of chopped kale or spinach would work well in the sauce and make for a slightly more balanced meal. It's still tasty as is, just a bit lacking in vegetables.

Drop Meatballs

Adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2018

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 3/4 c. fresh breadcrumbs¹
• 7 Tbsp. milk
• 450g Beyond Meat
• 14g (~1/2 c.) grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt²
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 5-6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/4 tsp. red chile flakes
• 1 (828mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1 c. chopped kale (optional)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 c. ricotta (optional)

Assembly

• 450g whole wheat spaghetti
• extra Parmesan, for serving

Directions

Meatballs

1. Mix breadcrumbs and milk and set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Mix in Beyond Meat, Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.
3. Working with ~2 Tbsp. of mixture at a time, shape into balls. You should get 20-24 meatballs.

Sauce

1. Heat oil over medium-low heat.
2. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 minutes.
3. Add chile flakes and sizzle for 30-60 seconds.
4. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and kale (if using).

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Drop meatballs into sauce. Be careful; do not stir or the meatballs may break apart.
3. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes.
4. Remove lid and bake for another 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.
6. While sauce is sitting, cook and drain the spachetti.
7. Carefully stir the basil and ricotta (if using) into the sauce.
8. Toss the spagheti with the sauce and meatballs.
9. Serve topped with extra cheese.

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¹ The original recipe called for 11 crushed saltines and 1/2 c. of milk to make the panade. I didn't have saltines, but I did have lots of stale bread, so I used that instead. Since the bread was more moist than the crackers would've been, I increased the amount of bread and decreased the amount of milk. ^Back
2 I usually reduce the amount of salt called for in American recipes by at least half. Sometimes I omit it entirely. Had I been using saltines for the panade as the recipe directed, I would've omitted the additional salt called for. Given that the use of breadcrumbs was already reducing the salt content significantly, I decided to use the full amount of salt called for in the meatballs. (Although I still halved the salt in the sauce.) I think this worked out well, although it still probably would've been okay with less salt. ^Back