THE GOOD OIL MILL
AT YOUR HOME
Eggplant meatballs are a vegetarian, tasty and delicious second course which follow the seasonality as it’s very often prepared in late summer or beginning of fall, when the eggplants are fully riped and can better release all their aromas.
Juicy eggplant meatballs prepared with the meat of eggplants, stale bread, egg, cheese and some other goodies… this time thought we would like to add a little bit of extra touch by adding a few Bonamini pitted olive in olive oil.
The recipe that we usually follow is the classic one, the sicilian one, which is different from the calabrese eggplant meatballs recipe because we also use an important amount of Pecorino cheese and also some mint leaves.
Always because we like to follow the traditions, the eggplant meatballs should be fried in some good extra virgin olive oil, letting this recipe become one of the most loved by either adults and children, and then put them onto some homemade tomatoes sauce. During the years here at Frantoio Bonamini we have experienced several different cooking methods of these eggplant meatballs: in the over for a lighter version, in the pan for a more practical way of cooking and even steamed when we are running late but do not want to give up on tastiness. Our favorite is still the classic one though, because it’s almost impossible to say no to a “light” and delicious homemade evo oil fry, especially when enriched of amazing ingredients like the ones for our eggplant meatballs recipe.
These meatless meatballs are good to serve as an aperitivo, as part of a buffet or just as a second course; in any case they have to be presented combined with a dip, in order to dip them still warm and get the full crunchiness and experience. The kind of dip that we prefer is the one with greek yogurt or the tzatziki dip; the acidity of the yogurt is able to create a very well balanced contrast if mixed together with the eggplant meatballs.
An alternative dip to serve with this recipe of eggplant meatballs could be a red&yellow cherry tomatoes mayo, always to keep an important acidity. It’s your choice!
Ingredients
Preparation
1. Cut the eggplant for the meatballs in medium size pieces and salt them.
2. Put a drizzle of olive oil on a oven tray and spread the eggplants in a way that all of them touch the bottom of the tray.
3. Bake the eggplants in the oven for about 25 min at 392 °F, stiring them once in a while.
Alternatively: eggplants can be steamed or panfried always using a little splash of extra virgin olive oil.
4. When the eggplants are ready and fully cooked, put them in a bowl and crush them with a spoon to get a sort of a cream. Add next the egg, the pecorino cheese, the mint, the pitted Bonamini olives in olive oil and the minced stale bread and mix.
5. It is very important to get a soft but compact compost (if too soft add more cheese or minced bread). Shape the meatballs as a size as a walnut and roll them over on some breadcrumbs.
6. Put about a two finges line of Bonamini evo oil San Felice and let it heat up. Once ready, proceed with the frying of the olives and eggplant meatballs, rolling them over at least 3/4 times till gold.
7. Drain the extra olive oil by putting the eggplant meatballs on some blotting paper and serve them while still hot!
*a little advice on how to keep these olives&eggplant meatballs: it’s always best to serve them still hot to keep their crunchiness; can also be waited on cold but they wouldn’t give their best. Eggplant meatballs can also be frozen but this needs to happen before frying/cooking them.
“Some more, some less but each of us knows, in our own unconscious, that EVO oil has much more potential than we think and that, therefore, it can be used for infinite different purposes. Even when, in fact, we are in the mood for an homemade fried… quick, easy, not so healthy but extremely yummy…”
Here’s then the exact reason why extra virgin olive oil, when used also for frying, can change not only our eggplant meatball recipe but all our homemade mixed fry dishes.
We’ve already talked about this on our Bonamini Blog: In the mood for some fried food? Here’s the perfect EVO oil to use!
