Italian "meatballs"

We go to a local vegan restaurant and all of the fake meats are listed in quotes... We order things like, noble broccoli with "beef," or spicy sweet potato curry with "chicken."  Today, I made Italian "meatballs."  Maybe we should put the Italian in quotes, too. Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 piece of sourdough bread
1 16-ounce package of super firm tofu
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tablespoons flax


Ingredients are listed in the order we processed them in the the food processor.  We put the walnuts in first and made them very smooth--almost a walnut butter.  (I told my daughter a "minute" and didn't realize she was literal.  No worries, we went forward; it worked out okay.)   We added the bread and made it all crumbly and then added the rest of the ingredients: tofu, spices, and flax.  We pulsed this again until it was still kind of crumbly.

Previously, I tried making "meatballs" using extra firm tofu, but in the food processor with the extra firm, the mixture became too wet.  The super firm seemed to be able to handle the food processor and all the pulsing me and my two helpers gave it.  It was a little smoother than I wanted, but next time we won't do the extra pulses and it'll be perfect.

We made 35 little balls and baked them in oven on a convection setting at 300 for 30 minutes.  (I rolled the balls over about 1/2 way through and kept checking on them.)  (They may only need 25 minutes...)

Here's a picture of the "super firm" tofu:

Here are a couple of pictures of our "meatballs":

After baking...

Soaked in sauce...  (It's good to let them soak for a few hours, just like real meatballs.)

They are super yummy on sandwich, too!

Next up, my Dad's easy sauce recipe!