Albondigas

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Albondigas is another example of how Mexican cuisine is filled with aromatic flavors and colorful ingredients as pleasurable to the eye as the palate.  Recipes for albondigas are recorded in Spain as far back as the XII through the XIX centuries.  It was a dish of the upper social class, not a recourse for a dish of inferior cuts of meat.  Though derived from Spain, nevertheless, Mexican albondigas are linked to it’s national identity.  The full flavored albondigas are balanced with a light tomato lime sauce.

Let’s get started….

 

 

Ingredients

Serves 8 

Sauce

4 large tomatoes

2 limes for juice

2 dry pods of chile de arbol

1 small clove garlic sliced

⅛ teaspoon ground cumin

⅛ teaspoon ground oregano

Albondigas

2 eggs, lightly stirred

¼ cup milk or water

1 cup packaged breadcrumbs or 3 slices of chopped white bread

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cup fresh diced oregano

⅓ cup fresh cilantro finely chopped + extra for garnish

⅓ cup fresh mint diced

⅓ teaspoon cumin

1 cup diced onion

½ cup toasted pine nuts (or cooked rice)

2 teaspoons salt

 

 

 

Preparation

Tomato Lime Sauce

Add fresh tomatoes into 6 cups of boiling water and boil them for 2 to 5 minutes until the skins have parted or come loose.  Remove the tomatoes and when cool enough to handle, remove the skins.  In a blender, liquify the tomatoes, then pour out into a bowl.  Add the lime juice, cumin and oregano.  Carefully add small amounts of chile extract, enough to taste the flavor of chile de arbol but not so much to make this sauce too hot.  Click here for instructions on preparing some chile extract.  Salt to taste.

Albondigas

In a large bowl, mix bread crumbs and eggs with milk until bread is soften.  Add and combine the rest of the ingredients with your hands being careful not to over mix. Chill  for 20 minutes. Using dampened hands, roll 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a ball shape, taking care not to press too much. Preheat the oven to 350^o F. .

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a large non stick fry pan over medium heat.  In batches add meatballs and brown on all sides – about 5 minutes.  Try shaking the pan gently to roll the meatballs around to brown uniformly.  When they are browned, line meatballs on a greased sheet pan with sides.

 

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes to 165^o F internal heat.  Plate over a small amount of sauce garnished as shown in these photographs.

 

 

 

Notes

For a lighter version of this recipe substitute rice for pine nuts and if fresh herbs are not conveniently available, you may substitute 2 teaspoons of ground oregano and eliminate the mint.

Buen provecho !

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