Five Vegetable Meatballs with Sweet Potato
Serves: 6
Prep time: 25
Cook time: 40
5 serves per portion
Recipe courtesy of Margaret Gallagher, Middle Ridge Branch
Ingredients:
- 500g lean beef mince
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups quick oats
- 1 onion, finely grated
- 1 zucchini, finely grated
- 1 carrot, finely grated
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs
- 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 700g bottle of passata
- 420g can crushed tomatoes
- 2 sweet potatoes (~1kg), peeled and chopped into 3cm cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil spread
- ¼ cup milk, low fat
Method:
- PREHEAT oven to 180°C.
- COMBINE the beef mince, egg, quick oats, onion, zucchini, carrot, celery, pepper, dried herbs, and vegetable stock powder in a large bowl. Mix well with clean hands until evenly combined.
- ROLL all the mince mixture into evenly sized meatballs (~30 meatballs). If time allows, cover and sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking.
- HEAT olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sear the meatballs on all sides in 2-3 batches, then place in a baking dish.
- SPREAD the passata and crushed tomatoes evenly over the meatballs.
- COOK the meatballs in the oven for around 30 minutes or until brown through when sliced open.
- WHILE the meatballs are cooking, add the sweet potatoes to a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender.
- DRAIN and mash sweet potato, mixing in the olive oil spread and milk until smooth and without lumps.
- SERVE meatballs on top of the mashed sweet potato.
What's Great About It:
Aside from these meatballs being packed with five different vegetables, this recipe is versatile and easy to prepare in bulk. It can be cooked, served into equal portions and frozen for later or the meatballs made up and frozen raw for cooking later. You can also serve these meatballs with pasta and a sprinkle of parmesan instead of sweet potato. Feel free to add your favourite fresh herbs such as parsley or basil for some extra flavour.
