Cannellini Bean Meatballs in a Tomato, Carrot and Parsnip Sauce
This is a ‘what I had at home’ version of Jamie Oliver’s Meatball Traybake from his ‘Eat yourself Healthy’ series. I was so inspired by the meatballs with the addition of cannellini beans instead of breadcrumbs, I had to try it straight away and it worked!
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
2 red onions
4 carrots
2 parsnips
1 x 400g cannellini beans
400g beef mince
5 sundried tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 x red pepper
1 lemon
Olive oil
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
- Peel and roughly chop the carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic. Chop the red pepper into chunks and add them all to a deep roasting tray.
- Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper and roast for about 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, drain the beans and add to a food processor, with the mince, sun dried tomatoes and oregano, salt and pepper. Pulse until combined.
- Roll the meat mixture into even sized balls and place in a large frying pan, on a medium-high heat with 2 tbsp olive oil and cook until golden all over.
- Add the tomatoes to the roasted vegetables and sprinkle over with lemon zest and juice before returning to the oven whilst you continue cooking the meatballs.
- Once cooked – add the meatballs to the roasted vegetables and return to the oven for a final 20 minutes.
- The meatballs are delicious on their own with the roasted chunky vegetables in tomato sauce, or with fresh bread, cous cous, rice or wholewheat spaghetti.
- Enjoy!