Albondigas

I have a confession. I wish I were Mexican. I can prove it, too: I love tacos de tripas (only Mexicans can understant this), I love Tecate, and I have a statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe in my backyard.

On days that I'm feeling particularly Mexican, I try and cook like one. I'm not so good at tortillas, but I've braved tamales and even gorditas. When we were blessed with a blanket of snow earlier this week, I decided to warm up with a bowl of albondigas. They are DELICIOUS.



Albondigas are meatballs, most often made in a spicy caldo, or soup. Most people would make meatballs with breadcrumbs or panko, but this Mexican version uses finely chopped tortillas. Ole!

Here's how you can get started with a batch of your own:



Chop up an onion or two, depending on how in love you are with onions. Grab about 3 or 4 long roasted, peeled green chiles with the stems removed. Give those a good chop, too.



Put the onion and the green chile in a large stock pot with 3 tablespoons of bacon grease. Vegetable oil or butter works, too, but you know what they say - bacon makes everything better. Or was that butter? Whatever. After you let the onion and green chile saute for a few minutes, add in a 16-ounce can of diced tomatoes.



While the onion, green chile, and tomatoes simmer for awhile, put a pound of ground beef in a large mixing bowl.



Now get three or four corn tortillas. Cut them into very thin julienne strips, and then rotate 90 degrees and dice them very fine. Don't forget to keep an eye on your simmering onion, chile, and tomatoes. Burned veggies is a crime in most kitchens.



Toss the tortilla bits into the bowl with the ground beef. Amazing things are about to happen here, my friends.



Grab an egg and beat it a little in a small bowl. Think of your boss. Beat harder.



Next, you'll need a clove of garlic. Smash it with the flat end of a knife and then chop it up.



Remember that big bowl of beef and tortillas? Add to that bowl the beaten egg and the garlic, and blend it all together. I found this funky masher at a Pampered Chef party and it's pretty good for stuff like this. I have yet to find any other use for it, though.



This is what the bowl should look like when you're all done blending.



Now it's time to add 3 cups of water into that stock pot you probably forgot about. Meatballs take over your mind, man! But that's okay - I know you kept a vigilant watch over those veggies and made sure they didn't burn.



Add to that 3 beef bouillon cubes.



And a half a teaspoon of cumin.



We're not done yet, but almost. Next add a handful of fresh chopped cilantro leaves. This is muy importante as they say in my language. If you don't have any cilantro, coriander will do. Did you know that coriander and cilantro are the same herb? The coriander comes from the seed; the leaves are the cilantro. You learned something new!



We're ready to start rolling meatballs now. Each one should be slightly smaller than a golf ball. Drop each one in and let everything just simmer for at least 30 minutes. If you like a brothier soup, you can add another 3 or 4 cups of water during simmering. When the meatballs float to the top, they're done.

Most people say albondigas are better the next day. I love to eat mine with toasted flour tortillas that have a little char on them. Dee-lish!



I found this recipe in the Junior League of El Paso's first cookbook, Seasoned with Sun. It has some absolutely amazing soup recipes, one of which I'll share with you next week that is To. Die. For. Especially if you love potato soup. And green chile. And potato and green chile together. In a soup.

Here's the list of ingredients and the steps again, in case you want to cut-and-paste them separately to print, instead of killing a bunch of trees and your ink cartridge with all those photos.

3 T bacon grease (butter or vegetable oil works too)
1 or 2 onions, chopped
4 long green chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped with the stems removed (about 8 oz.)
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 lb. ground beef
3 corn tortillas, chopped very fine
1 egg
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 cups water (3 or 4 more toward the end if you like a brothier soup)
3 beef bouillon cubes
1 tsp cumin
1 cup chopped cilantro (or 1 T coriander)

1. Warm bacon grease in a large stock pot over medium high heat.
2. Add onions and green chile to the pot and saute for a few minutes.
3. Add tomatoes (with the juice from the can). Lower heat.
4. In a separate bowl, add ground beef and chopped corn tortillas.
5. Add a beaten egg to the ground beef and tortillas, along with the garlic. Combine well.
6. Add 4 cups of water to the onions, chile, and tomatoes. Add bouillon cubes and cumin.
7. Add chopped cilantro or coriander.
8. Roll the meat mixture into balls and drop into the stock pot.
9. Simmer over low heat for at least 30 minutes.

Happy eating!