Skip to main content

Albóndigas

Yesterday, after an adventure back in time at San Juan Bautista's Living History Days, we wandered into a mom and pop Mexican restaurant. I ordered a small bowl of albóndigas and was thoroughly confused by what I received...


...two huge meatballs, one carrot, one zucchini, a wedge of cabbage, a plate of rice, a quarter of a lime, two tortillas, and no instructions about how to eat this. Was I supposed to chop it up into bite-sized pieces and mix it all together? Was I supposed to eat the components separately? I muddled my way through, enjoyed the flavors, but probably offended some of the other patrons with my complete ignorance about this tasty dish.

I did, as I always do when faced with a culinary mystery: I came home and googled it. The number of variations is astounding. Some had a tomato base, some a plain broth. Some had cabbage, some had green beans. But all had a rice-meatball simmered in broth with fresh mint and a squeeze of lime. I started with that knowledge and whipped up my own version for dinner tonight. It was a hit.

I started with a mirepoix (chopped mixture of celery, onion, and carrots) plus chopped parsley, cilantro, mint, purple, new, and Yukon gold potatoes, cooking them till fork tender.


Add stock to fill up the pot about 3/4 of the way. I used 8 C of chicken stock. Bring that to a boil. In the meantime, make the meatballs. 1 C cooked brown rice, 1 lb 96/4 organic ground beef, 1 T ground cumin, 2 T chopped fresh cilantro, 1 T chopped fresh mint, 1 egg. Mix that all together and form teaspoon-sized meatballs.


Drop the meatballs into the boiling broth. Add cubed zucchini and simmer for another 30 minutes or so, till the meatballs are cooked through. 



I placed a layer of cooked rice in the bottom of the bowl and ladeled it full of the soup. Serve with a wedge of lime. So, I have no idea if this is anything close to authentic albóndigas, but it was tasty and the boys - all three of them - loved it! This will definitely be on my soup rotation for rainy season.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce