Salmon Meatballs with an Avocado Cream Sauce

A light sauce over zucchini noodles makes this the perfect hot summer night meal! The salmon meatballs come together in minutes and are a great source of healthy protein to tie it all together! You will find yourself wishing you doubled this sauce…..

Embracing those fats! Whether you are on team Marilyn or Twiggy, in many dietary conversations, the word ‘fat’ comes with various schools of thoughts and opinions. Despite any negative publicity, there are a few players out there who can flaunt what their maker gave them and the world embraces their beautiful being just as they are, full fat and all, specifically salmon and avocado (feminist hat removed, back to food :-)). These babies bring a nutritious component to their personality that not only add fantastic flavor, but loads of health benefits.

Salmon has often been my staple when it comes to a main dish, specifically for the Omega 3 and protein content, but there are many other wonderful benefits found in this water living beauty. While avocados are often critiqued for being high in fat, I lean to them for that reason, as they give me the necessary fat to my diet, while beneficial to my heart and aiding in the absorption of other nutrients, among many other wonderful attributes. This dish combines the two in an easy meal that does not hold the guilt of the heavy pasta-one would argue you won’t even notice anything missing!

That sauce though…..A quality creamy avocado sauce can be a tough one. Typically, the avocado is mixed with yogurt or sour cream and more of a salad based sauce. Or, I have had warmed sauces that either lose the avocado or are quite heavy. While this sauce does bring cream to the party, it binds the ingredients together in a cool sauce, that is naturally warmed by the noodles and salmon when added, giving it the cream sauce feel we are looking for without having to cook the ingredients. It also makes this ideal for left over uses on salads, over roasted veggies….or alone with a straw…?!! I will warn you, it’s worth every bit of garlic breath. I fell in love with this sauce instantly and will be using it over and over!

Experimentation-depending on if you are going for a more cream sauce or more pesto, I might play around with the levels of lemon and basil involved. For a more pesto desired flavor, I would back off the lemon slightly, more cream and basil, and serve with freshly grated parmesan. I found this added a very distinct flavor that was easily distinguished when I added the smallest amount of parmesan, although not unwelcomed.

How are you using veggie noodles?!! I’m always a fan of carb substitutions and learning new ways to use my spiralizer. Comment below with your ideas and pictures!!

Have you tried asparagus noodles? You might love this recipe:

Chicken Bacon Mushroom Alfredo over Asparagus Ribbons

Circle back to the website frequently, as there are new recipes posted often, or follow Goddess of Garlic on Facebook to not miss any postings!! Please share with others!

Salmon Meatballs with an Avocado Cream Sauce

Hannah

An absolutely delicious meal that comes together in minutes but flavors that seem to have marinated for days!

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine French, Italian, Mediterranean

Servings 2

Equipment

• Spiralizer
• Immersion blender or conventional blender
• Baking sheet
• Skillet
• Kitchen knife
• Grater
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients

  

Meatballs

• 14 oz Salmon fresh or canned
• 1 medium Grated Zucchini
• 1/4 cup Bread Crumbs or pork rind breadcrumbs for Keto
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauce

• 1 ripe Avocado
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1/4 cup Fresh Basil
• Warm water as needed
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Zoodles

• 1 large Zucchini

Instructions

 

Meatballs

• In large mixing bowl, grate zucchini finely, and using towel, squeeze as much water out as possible. Add bread crumbs, onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
• If using fresh salmon, remove skin and place in a conventional food processor to finely ground, then add to the mixing bowl. If canned, make sure it is well separated and add to zucchini mixture.
• Heat oven to 350 and lightly grease baking sheet. Mix the contents together and form balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, placing on sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, checking throughout.

Sauce

• While meatballs are cooking, in mixing bowl, add avocado, cream, minced garlic chopped basil and lemon juice.
• Using immersion (or conventional) blender, puree until you have a smooth sauce. Add a little warm water if needed to thin out sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Zoodles

• Using spiralizer, create zucchini noodles (I used 'spaghetti' blade). In warmed skillet, lightly sauté until tender.

Assembly

• Removing meatballs from oven, plate over zoodles and drizzle with avocado cream sauce, garnishing with additional fresh basil.

  Variation: fresh parmesan cheese adds a nice flavor if you prefer more of a pesto taste.

  While the meatballs were baking, I added additional roasted vegetables to the baking sheet to complete this plate without added effort.

Keyword Fresh, Healthy, Keto, Salmon