This recipe goes out to my Pappy who dealt with my picky eating for 17 years! I always had texture issues with foods growing up - and in an Italian family, we had marinara sauce several times a week - Spaghetti Sundays, lasagna, baked ziti - you name it. I would always pick out the onions and “foreign objects” in my sauce. He finally had enough of it and made me my own non-chunky sauce! To this day, it’s still the best sauce I’ve ever had. I’m lucky he wrote down the recipe for me to have forever! I modified it a little bit from his original recipe - see below for his recipes then scroll a little further for my own!
My grandfather’s original sauce recipe.
And a meatball recipe he used to modify!
Sauce Ingredients
1 can tomato puree
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. parsley
1/8 tsp. crushed dry red peppers
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Small handful chopped fresh basil
Meatball Ingredients
1/2 cup white onion
1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (or from the can!)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 2.5 tbsp water)
1/3 cup Violife vegan parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. chili flakes
1 tbsp. tomato paste
Handful of fresh basil
Grapeseed oil (or any other high heat cooking oil)
Other Ingredients
1 small zucchini, diced
1 cup minced mushrooms
Barilla Protein+ angel hair pasta (or whatever your fav pasta is!)
More fresh basil, to garnish
Violife vegan parmesan cheese, to garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Prep your flax egg: combine 1 tbsp flaxseed meal + 2.5 tbsp water in a bowl. Whisk and let thicken for several minutes.
Combine sauce ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.
Rinse your chickpeas then dry them WELL between tea towels. Do not skip this step!
Dice and sauté the white onion with the garlic until golden-brown and translucent.
Dice the zucchini and mushrooms while the onion is cooking.
Remove the onion from heat.
In a high power blender, combine the white onion, DRIED chickpeas, 1/3 cup vegan parmesan, flax egg, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, bread crumbs, chili flakes, tomato paste, and fresh basil. Scrape down the sides as needed.
Once everything is well mixed, start forming the meatballs.
Heat an even layer of oil in a frying pan and add a few meatballs at a time. Use tongs to rotate them. There’s nothing that needs to be cooked in them, we’re just looking for a round shape and a crispy texture! Do this for all meatballs. Set them on a baking sheet as they finish. Once all meatballs have been evenly browned, pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
While the meatballs are cooking, heat a skillet with oil and saute the mushrooms and zucchini. Once they are done, add them to the sauce and mix well.
While the meatballs and veggies are cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta per package instructions.
Once your sauce has simmered with the veggies, the meatballs are finished, and the pasta is cooked and drained - plate your meal! I put down the pasta, then the sauce, then the meatballs, and garnish with fresh basil and vegan parmesan cheese.
