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Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables we grow in our garden. It’s so fabulous. Surprisingly, the first time I tried it was about 10 years ago as Eggplant Parmesan at A Taste of Italy – an amazing Italian restaurant in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Every year, when the garden’s harvest cooperates, we make a couple of large batches of Eggplant Parmesan to freeze in dinner-sized portions to enjoy throughout the year. It is a time-consuming meal to make, and it’s so awesome to be able to pull it out of the freezer for a quick weeknight dinner.
Another favorite eggplant recipe is Ratatouille. We base ours on Rachael Ray’s Chicken Skillet Ratatouille, though we usually add chicken broth and some pasta when serving. We usually freeze a couple of batches of it also.
Yet another favorite recipe using eggplant is Baba Ganoush. It is basically roasted eggplant and garlic that is puréed in our Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor and then mixed with some tahini paste, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. For the folks who prefer to follow actual recipes, we make ours like Cookie and Kate. We like eating it with tortillas or pita chips. You can also use it as a sauce on French bread, flatbread, or pizza and top with fresh tomato slices and mozzarella.
Yesterday, though, I had about a pound of eggplant in the refrigerator and no plans. While many people (including my husband and me) enjoy eggplant on its own as “the meat” of the meal, some people still seem to feel like they need protein to go along with it.
Eggplant Turkey Meatballs
I made these Skinnytaste Eggplant Meatballs last summer and while we really liked them, the consensus seemed to be that they needed some meat.
So, I decided to make Turkey and Eggplant Meatballs (recipe below.) While they were baking on a baking sheet pan, I heated a quart of our homemade canned spaghetti sauce with one can of diced tomatoes. I also boiled 8 servings of mushroom tagliatelle pasta from Aldi. Goodness, I love that store.
When the meatballs registered 165 degrees, I removed them from the oven. After they cooled for a few minutes, I gently placed into the warm sauce on the stovetop. Don’t cook or stir them at this point, but we like to have them absorb some of the sauce. Just be gentle.
For serving, I put some cooked pasta on the plate and topped it with meatballs and sauce. Then, add a couple of teaspoons of ricotta cheese and some fresh shredded Asiago. That was it!
Eggplant Turkey Meatballs
Equipment
- Large Skillet
- Baking Sheet
- Food Processor
- Vegetable Peeler
- Sharp Knife
- Cutting Board
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 pound eggplant, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp parsley flakes, dried
- 1 cup bread crumbs, unseasoned * We use a mix of regular unseasoned bread crumbs and Panko bread crumbs, you can use whatever you prefer.
- 1/8 cup Asiago cheese, grated * or Parmesan or other aged cheese of your choice
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp olive oil, for brushing on a baking sheet * or cooking spray if you prefer
Spaghetti Sauce and Pasta
- 1 pound pasta of your choice * I used mushroom tagliatelle
- 32 ounces pasta sauce of your choice * I used homemade canned sauce
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
- ricotta cheese and shredded Asiago cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Wash and peel your eggplant. You can leave the peelings on if you would like, but I prefer to peel them because they can give your meal kind of a bitter taste. Once peeled, dice into cubes and saute in olive oil on the stovetop on medium heat.
- Dice the onion as well, and add it to the skillet. Once it sautees for about 5 minutes, add the 1/4 cup water and saute for a few more minutes. By this point, it should be getting tender and you can remove from heat.
- In two batches if needed, put the eggplant/onion/garlic mixture into your food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- In a bowl, gently mix the chopped eggplant mixture with ground turkey, salt, pepper, basil, parsley, bread crumbs, and egg until thoroughly combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and brush olive oil on a baking sheet. Form the meat and eggplant mixture into evenly sized meatballs - I like to use a medium-sized cookie scoop. Place the balls on the cookie sheet, and place into the preheated oven.
- Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until the thermometer reads 165 degrees.
- When they are nearing the end of baking time, I boil my noodles and heat my spaghetti sauce. We like to drop the meatballs gently into the warmed sauce just before serving. Be careful with this part, because the meatballs are delicate and you do not want to stir/handle them too much.
- Enjoy!
