VeganMoFo: Highly Conceptualized Meatball Salad
I will lay myself bare and stand humbly before you, for here dear reader was my lunch today. Meatball salad. With Trader Joe’s vegetarian meatballs.
But, just listen, ok?
The really awesome part of this salad is the dressing and so let’s not get caught up in all that he said she said who did what to who crap. Mistakes were made but let’s move on. I don’t remember exactly how this incarnation of the meatball salad came to be, but I do know that Josh and Michelle were joking about eating a meatball salad with the premise being that it was a laughable idea. But people put all kinds of stuff in salad. I mean, we have this idea that it either has to be something hippie like sprouts or something fancy like shaved fennel. But when I want salad, especially for lunch, I want something really substantial and really healthy. I don’t want to shove a bunch of green stuff in my face just for the sake of it, I want something that makes it seem that each leaf is a gift. Nature’s potato chip, if you must. I want to keep wanting more and more. But I don’t want all the fat, calories and other miscellany indiscretions that come with most dressings. An unhealthy salad makes me feel awkward, apprehensive and just a little bit horrified. Sort of the same reaction I get from “tween fashion.” 12 year olds in heels? No thanks!
When we think meatballs we think pasta and lots of red sauce and garlic and so forth. You don’t want to dump a thing of marinara sauce on your salad, though, as tempting as it might sound. A nice fresh tomato dressing really does the job of refining the meatball salad concept. Ripe juicy tomatoes, a little fresh garlic and bright green fresh oregano really make you feel like your slurping up a forkful of spaghetti but in salad form. You can use any vegan meatballs that you like - try the tofu balls in the ppk database or the beanballs in Veganomicon. Or if it’s lunchtime and you’re feeling kinda like “fork it!” you can just use the store bought stuff. Just don’t tell them I sent you.
This recipe is enough for 2 gigantic servings of salad. Add your favorite greens and veggies - in this picture I used mushrooms, red onions, cucumbers and radishes.
Fresh Tomato Dressing
Serves 2
1 lb tomatoes (about 3 average sized guys)
2 teaspoons fresh chopped oregano
1 or 2 garlic cloves, very well minced (it’s going to be raw so go easy)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
fresh black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Chop the tomatoes up fairly small, immediately adding them to a mixing bowl so that not much liquid escapes. Add the remaining ingredients and use your hands (or a fork if you’re all uptight) to mush everything up really well. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to let the flavors meld. Smother your meatball salad and enjoy!
October 13th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
at first this post made me feel kind of upset, especially the salad-form-spaghetti-slurping part, but then i thought burger salad and felt much better, excited even. i will try this.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
p.s.
yes, i will be putting pickles on it.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
p.p.s.
and bun croutons.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
i would never make this for myself. no no no no. but, if i happened upon this salad, say at your house. well then, yes please.
xo
kittee
October 13th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Today I bought 4 boxes of Whole Foods vegan meatballs for our Halloween party - for BBQ meatballs with a friend’s Mom’s special sauce. There must be something in the air! And your salad looks delicious.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
that sounds good to me! not even a bit weird.
i’m going to eat that soon, trust me.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:57 am
wow, this sounds great! really really great!
I really like TJs meatballs.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Any use of fresh tomatoes is okay in my book (and we’ve been lucky to have a ton of excellent ones lately). Also, save your apologies: I love TJ’s meatballs and don’t care who knows it!
October 14th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Looks yummers to me!
October 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Hmmmm….what a curious concoction. I’m with Kittee on this one. I can’t say that I’ll ever make this but if it were served up to me I’d at least taste it.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
this looks like something i want to try…not only because i know it will taste wicked but for when someone asks me what i am eating and i tell them meatball salad and then get to watch there reaction….YES…
October 14th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
meatball motherfucking salad!
i am vindicated.
i made a meatball salad for dinner once and michelle made fun of me for YEARS.
now? vengeance is mine.
isa, the 50 bux i promised you is under your welcome mat.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
did you really just do this to me?
i thought we were friends!
i have to go wipe the tears of laughter off my meatball salad cheeks.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
When I first saw this, I thought, “No.” But then I found myself thinking of it again several times today. I am beginning to lean toward “Yes.”
October 14th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
for the record - meatball salads are ridiculous. and you all know it.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Ok, This is by far the best thing ever. Thanks!
–From a new (aspiring) vegan
October 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
So I wasn’t really into the salad, but I made the tomato dressing and it’s fantastic. I put it on top of stirfried cabbage.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I love warm hearty things on my cool crunchy salad, but I don’t know if I could dig in thinking it was suppose to be kinda like a pasta. But if no one told me these were “meatballs” and the dressing was “red sauce” I’d be all over this like nooch on noodles. Fresh tomato dressing sounds fab.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
It’s not supposed to be like pasta, it was just pasta inspired. That is why it is “highly conceptualized.” No one understands me.
::slams door::
October 15th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
::door swings back and forth saloon style::
October 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I eat a hot dog salad sometimes. It makes me feel like I’m in a trailer park, but it’s so good.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
omigosh, isa! someone’s been reading this blog from the “outside”…. i was watching the Today show yesterday and caught the cooking segment and there was some dude making a Meatball Salad! he claims his mother came up with this.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Maybe I’m his mother?
October 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I was instructed to get rid of some of my frozen bags of Trader Joe’s veggie meatballs to make room in the freezer for the bags of ice needed to grind into enough margaritas to quench the thirst of a roomful of drunkards. So I went searching and I found your site and this recipe that calls for trader joe’s veggie meatballs. It was superb. Thanks. I look forward to coming for new recipes.