What vegetarian protein goes well with spaghetti?

[Anonymous]

I'm cooking for a relatively new vegetarian whose birthday tradition has for many years been spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs are out, obviously. In general the birthday gal doesn't love fake processed meat, for instance prefers real vegetables to an impossible burger or Boca burger. We'll have good Parmesan to grate at the table. What else would be good?

[Anonymous]

PS sauce would be a red sauce.

[Anonymous]

Mushrooms are delicious with pasta

[Anonymous]

I’ve made tasty roasted eggplant and mushroom “meatballs”. Not sure if that is too fake or not!

[Anonymous]

Eggplant meatballs are so good!

[Anonymous]

I haven't tried these, but the ingredients look good and they keep with the birthday gal's tradition. I would give these a whirl.

https://cooktoria.com/mushroom-meatballs/

[Anonymous]

Chickpeas or cannelini beans in the sauce? Chickpea meatballs?

[Anonymous]

Oh, lots of options! You can simmer cauliflower and white beans in marinara - really yummy but you have to let the caulflower cook until it's almost falling apart. My DS in more innocent days said "Mommy, what are these white meatballs!"

There's a recipe for ricotta meatballs that looks good:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023488-ricotta-polpette-in-tomato-sauce

And chickpeas simmered in marinara is a classic - aka chana masala - but just use Italian spices instead. Make sure to cook for long enough until the chickpeas are super tender.

[Anonymous]

Oven-roasted chickpeas are great with spaghetti.

[Anonymous]

WIth red sauce, I would do the eggplant/mushroom meatballs, or something like tempeh.

If open to something other than a red sauce, something like cannellini beans with carmelized onion and sage would be good.

[Anonymous]

Lentil Bolognese
https://rainbowplantlife.com/10-ingredient-vegan-red-lentil-bolognese/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't tried these, but the ingredients look good and they keep with the birthday gal's tradition. I would give these a whirl.

https://cooktoria.com/mushroom-meatballs/

this looks great and I am not even a vegetarian!

[Anonymous]

Chick peas (softened) can be good in pasta. Cheese.

[Anonymous]

I’d might try serving it with baked eggplant rollatini. Homemade veggie meatballs can be good too, but I find them a little tedious to make.

[Anonymous]

Sauté walnuts or pecans with garlic-wilt some arugula and toss with lemon zest and Parmesan. Delicious!