Zucchini Noodles with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto & Mushroom-Chickpea Bites
This is Tumbleweed Farm’s version of spaghetti and meatballs. I love all of the farm fresh flavors and the mushroom-chickpea bites are absolutely addicting. This is a great end of the summer “pasta”. We still have plenty of tomatoes, zucchini and fresh herbs thriving in the fields however, this meal is a bit heartier than what we’ve been cooking up lately and it feels like an appropriate transition into fall. This dish is filling and comforting yet it’s still packed with farm fresh summer bounty! If you haven’t tried making your own sun dried tomatoes you should check out Kiersten’s method. It’s bullet proof!
We are busy cooking up as many end of the summer meals as possible. I love this time of the year and I hope you all are enjoying the farm fresh bounty that September typically spoils us with!
Grab a fork and enjoy the freshness of this late summer farm-to-table meal. Cheers!
Zucchini Noodles with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto & Mushroom-Chickpea Bites
Prep Time: 40 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: 4-6
For the Pesto:- 1 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained (if not oil packed soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and then drained)
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 medium- large zucchini, julienned or spiralized
- 1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups mixed mushrooms, finely chopped
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas, if canned rinsed and drained
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons low sodium tamari
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour
- Minced basil
- Shredded parmesan cheese (optional)
- Crushed red pepper flakes
Preparation
- Prepare the pesto by combining all the ingredients in a food processor and processing until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Prepare the zucchini noodles by spiralizing them and placing in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- In a large skillet heat grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. Once hot add onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms, thyme and tamari, continue to cook for about 8 more minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Place mushroom and onion mixture in a food processor with chickpeas and chickpea flour. Pulse until well combine but still slightly clumpy. Taste test and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Place mushroom-chickpea batter in the freezer for about 10 minutes to set.
- Once batter has chilled form into 1 1/2 inch uniform balls. Place on a prepared baking sheet and drizzle with a tiny bit of oil and bake in the oven for 18-23 minutes- or until browned on all sides. Flip halfway through cooking.
- Toss zucchini noodles with pesto and top with mushroom-chickpea bites. Season with grated parmesan cheese, basil, crushed red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
*Use this recipe as a guide. *Oven times will vary depending on the size of bites you make. *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary. *Taste test as you go.
This whole dish looks so good Andrea! I’m definitely going to try those mushroom-chickpea bites. I love things like that for jazzing up a salad or just for savoury snacks.
Summer looks like it’s still in full swing with you!
Let me know if you give them a whirl!
Wow – I can’t wait to try those Chickpea & Mushroom bites! Paired with that delicious sounding pesto, this meal is a total winner!
I *love* the idea of those mushroom-chickpea bites! I have yet to find a good vegan meatball recipe. I can’t wait to try this!
I made the bites last night. SO. GOOD! Definitely my go-to recipe from now on. 🙂
Woohoo!!! So glad you loved this as much as we do!
Those chickpea bites look amazing. Can’t wait to try them.
This is comfort food at its best!
Lovely recipe and great pictures.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Kimberly
This bowl looks like it is full of everything that is fantastic about the end of summer. I can’t wait to try the mushroom chickpea bites too. They sound like they’d make a great party appetiser on their own 🙂
I just had a wonderful dinner thanks to the above recipe! It was so satisfying and delicious!!
yay! I’m so happy you loved it 🙂
Looks monstrously tasty! I will add this to my recipe file.
I’ve been wondering about your protein intake. I imagine that you burn tons of calories in the fields. How do you make sure you are getting enough protein? This recipe has chickpeas, so that’s a start. Many of your other recipes heavily feature veggies. I wondered if you supplemented your meals with baked/steamed tofu, gluten, dried bean curd, black beans, nuts or the like.
Thanks for you comment Beth. We eat plenty of protein in the form of eggs (from our chickens) avocados, nuts, beans, seeds and veggies! Our daily intake of protein is actually quite high. 🙂
Those mushroom bites looks really yummy. I’m sure they make great combination with sundried tomatoes
I can’t wait to try this Andrea it looks amazing.
Let me know if you make this 🙂
Delicious! Just pinned this – I am totally going to give this recipe a try!
Hello! I was wondering if I could substitute regular flour for the chickpea flour?
yep! I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!
Loved this dish. Didn’t have all the ingredients so substituted regular flour for the chickpea flour and used ready made pesto. I don’t know whether I didn’t leave the batter to chill enough or whether I didn’t squeeze out enough moisture out of the mushroom mix but I found the batter to be a bit too wet and I didn’t want to add more flour.
At any rate, we loved the recipe and will defnitely make it again (probably preparing the batter ahead of time to let it cool down more). First time eating raw zucchini noodles and that was a fantastic discovery. Thanks Andrea!