Spanish Meatballs with Zucchini ‘Noodles’

I’m a big fan of meatballs in all their forms but my favourites are ones like these that you pop in the oven to bake in their sauce because they’re super low maintenance and you can do other things while dinner is cooking itself. If you don’t have an oven, they can easily be simmered on the stove top, you’ll just need to be prepared to stir more frequently.

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Spanish Meatballs with Zucchini ‘Noodles’

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• 1 jar tomato passata / puree (or puree) 700g / 24oz / 2.5 cups
• 1 red capsicum bell pepper, chopped
• 4 tablespoons salted butter
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 450 g ground (minced) chicken
• 150 g almond meal (almond flour)
• 2-3 zucchini (courgette)
• ricotta optional, to serve

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 200C (400F). Place tomato passata, capsicum, butter and paprika in a baking dish and pop in the oven to get cooking.
• While the sauce is warming, combine chicken and almond in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and form into your preferred meatball size. Smaller ones take longer to make but will cook quicker!
• Add the balls to the sauce and return to the oven uncovered for 15 minutes.
• Turn and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.
• While the meatballs are cooking, slice zucchini into fine ribbons using a mandoline or vegetable peeler. Stack them up and slice into linguine shaped ‘noodles’ with a knife. Pop in a strainer and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and allow to stand for 10 minutes or so.

Variations

vegetarian – use the recipe for these lentil balls or use eggplant.

vegan – replace chicken and almond meal with 2 drained cans of chickpeas. Simmer the chickpeas in the sauce until hot. Serve chickpeas and sauce with the zucchini noodles and replace ricotta with roasted sliced almonds or pine nuts.

dairy-free – replace ricotta with roasted sliced almonds or pine nuts.

paleo (grain, legume & dairy-free) – replace butter with olive oil and skip the ricotta or replace with roast almonds.

carb-lovers / more substantial – serve with steamed rice, cooked couscous or cooked quinoa. Or tossed in cooked spaghetti with the zucchini.

more substantial (low carb) – add roast almonds or macadamias.

more veg – feel free to add more than just the capsicum (bell pepper) to the sauce. Mushrooms, onion, diced eggplant, sweet potato or even frozen peas will all work, you may need to adjust the cooking time to get the veg cooked through. Or just serve with a green salad.

not-spanish – skip the capsicum and smoked paprika.

italian meatballs – skip the smoked paprika and serve with grated parmesan and basil instead of the ricotta.

short on time – instead of the meatballs brown the meat in a pan and add all meatball ingredients (except almond meal) and simmer until hot. Serve with ‘noodles’. If you would prefer meatballs then roast at 250C (480F) and reduce total cooking time to 15-20 minutes.

different meat – would also work well with beef or lamb.

Waste Avoidance Strategy

tomato passata or puree / smoked paprika / almond meal – keep them in the pantry.

red capsicum (bell pepper) – keep in the fridge for a few weeks. For longer grill and store in an airtight jar under oil. Or freeze them.

butter – keeps in the fridge for months.

chicken mince – freeze it.

zucchini – will keep for 2 weeks or longer in a plastic bag in the fridge. To keep it even longer, cook sliced zucchini in a little butter until just soft then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

ricotta – in a sealed tub it usually has a shelf life of a few weeks in the fridge. If in an opened container, will only keep for a few days so use for another meal or freeze.