Creamy Orzotto with Vegan Meatballs & Spinach
Can you hear the waves crashing? And can you feel the warm air swirling through your T-shirt as you sit back in a chair with a glass of wine in your hand? Take a deep breath in and out, pop the next olive in your mouth and enjoy the warm rays of sunshine. If you're already thinking about your summer vacation in the Mediterranean, then don't move. Please stay right here! Today's recipe will take you right there (in terms of taste).
The sun is slowly setting on the promenade somewhere in Italy, and you put on a light sweater because the last rays of sunshine are about to disappear into the sea. Your dinner is served. Now you might be wondering what you actually ordered? Well, good question! Today, we have an orzotto for you, a risotto with orzo pasta. It is a dish full of Mediterranean flair – with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh baby spinach, white wine and fresh herbs. Fresh lemon juice rounds off the whole thing, and small meatballs ensure that no one at the table misses the savory component.
Snip! Snip! Wake up, please! The bad news: you're not on the coast in Italy. Boohoo! The good news: you can still eat the orzotto. Woohoo! Unfortunately, you'll have to make it yourself. That's fine. But as soon as the plates are ready on your table, you can just close your eyes again and go back to sitting on the promenade in Italy, finishing your glass of wine and eating the last vegan meatball from your plate.
Speaking of meatballs! They are vegan, of course, and from GREENFORCE. We grabbed the "Easy To Mix vegan meatballs" and simply made them extra small and adapted them perfectly to our recipe with fresh herbs. The meatballs are based on pea protein, have a high protein and fiber content, and do not contain any gluten, soy, preservatives or flavor enhancers. Cool! We were really surprised by the consistency of the balls, as they are neither dry nor crumbly, but really firm and yet fluffy, just like the meatballs we used to eat. Great product tip! You can mix the meatball powder in just a few minutes and then fry the meatballs directly in the pan without any cooling time. You can find everything else about the preparation in the recipe below.
Creamy Orzotto with vegan Meatballs & Spinach
Ingredients
For the orzotto:
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 250 g (9 oz) orzo pasta
- 100 ml (0.5 cup) white wine
- 600 ml (2.5 cup) vegetable stock
- 200 ml (1 cup) plant-based cooking cream
- 100 g (3.5 oz) baby spinach
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dried tomatoes
- 15 g (0.5 oz) parsley
- 0.5 lemon (juice and zest)
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp (0.25 stick) vegan butter
- olive oil for frying
- salt
- pepper
Also:
- 375 g (13.25 oz) vegan meatballs (e.g. 1 pack from GREENFORCE)
- 15 g (0.5 oz) fresh herbs (parsley, dill, basil, ...)
- vegan Parmesan
Instructions
Finely chop the herbs for the meatballs. Then mix 125 grams (4.5 oz) of the meatball mix with 225 milliliters (1 cup) of very cold water, 2.5 tbsp of neutral vegetable oil and the chopped herbs. Leave to rest for approximately 3 minutes and form 25–30 small meatballs from the mixture.
For the orzotto, peel and chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over low heat and sauté the diced onion for 3–4 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté together for a further minute. Then add the orzo pasta and fry everything together for approx. 2–3 minutes.
Deglaze with white wine and bring it to a boil. Simmer for approximately 3 minutes until the white wine has been absorbed by the orzo pasta. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. If the liquid boils away earlier, simply add a little vegetable stock at a time.
In the meantime, wash the baby spinach and cut the sun-dried tomatoes into strips.
Finely chop the parsley.Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the meatballs over low to medium heat for 3–4 minutes on each side.
Just before the orzo pasta is al dente, add the vegan cooking cream, baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and parsley and stir in. Season to taste with lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast. Stir in vegan butter at the very end. Serve with vegan Parmesan cheese.
