I usually make my meatballs with gluten-free bread crumbs, but this recipe is grain-free. I omitted them completely, and you know what? They turned out just great. I added a little hunk of mozzarella for something special. De-licious.
You can also serve this up on top of brown rice pasta, quinoa pasta, or roasted veggies.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium zucchini
- olive oil
- 3 oz. pecorino-romano
- 2 oz. cow or goat’s milk mozzarella
- 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
- 2 T. roughly chopped, fresh parsley
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
- sea salt & pepper
- 1 egg white
- 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
- grated pecorino-romano, for sprinkling
Directions:
- Set ground beef on the counter; bring to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, julienne the zucchini into fine strips or, using a vegetable peeler, cut into ribbons. Place the zucchini into a colander and salt generously with sea salt. Let sit for 20 minutes.
- In a large food processor, grate pecorino-romano cheese.
- To food processor, add parsley and garlic powder. Crumble ground beef on top. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
- Pulse food processor until well combined.
- Add egg white and pulse until it comes together.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut mozzarella into 1/2″ cubes.
- Take a small portion of the ground beef mixture and wrap it around one of the mozzarella cubes, shaping into a meatball. This makes about 20 meatballs, so keep them around 1 to 1 1/2″.
- Place finished meatballs on a baking sheet. Once all meatballs are formed, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Once zucchini is ready, rinse thoroughly. Cook over medium heat in a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Once zucchini begins to brown, add a jar of your favorite marinara sauce. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Once meatballs are done, add to the pasta sauce and heat through.
- Sprinkle extra pecorino on top and serve.
