Albondigas mexicanas

I am consistently trying to think of ways to marry the classic meatball with Mexican flavours. So here’s another go at it. This sauce is deep and rich but not very spicy. It also gets better with time.

Ingredients 

Sauce:
2 guajillo chiles
1 poblano chile
2 medium tomatoes
2 large or 3 smaller tomatillos
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp of salt
1 small onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 a lime (if it’s juicy, use a whole one if it’s not)

Meatballs (you can easily double this because the above makes A LOT of sauce):
1 lb of extra lean ground beef
1 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
pinch of ground pepper

Roast the poblano. If you have a bbq or gas stove, char the skin over the flame. If you have an electric stove, put it under the broiler for 10-15 minutes turning it so all sides get charred. Put the hot pepper in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let theitm sit/steam for 10 minutes or more. The skin should now come off easily when you rub it. Remove as much as you can then cut out the stem and seed. Rinse it to get all the black stuff off and remove the final few stubborn seeds.

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Peel and thickly slice the onions. Dry roast the slices,  garlic (with the skins still on),  tomatoes, and the peeled and washed tomatillos in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, tomatillos, onions, tomatoes, oregano, cumin, salt, cilantro, lime juice, and up to a 1/4 cup of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth sauce. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Now put the egg into a large bowl and whisk it. Add the meat, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and chopped parsley and mix it all together with your hands. Then form the meat into walnut-sized balls.

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot and once it’s really hot, pour the sauce into it – watch out for the splatter! Stir, stir, stir. It’ll boil fairly quickly then turn it down to simmer. Add the meatballs. Cook for at least half an hour. You can simmer it for up to an hour to smooth out the flavours of the sauce even more. This would also be a good dish to make in the morning or day before and heat up later.

Serve over your favourite rice and be generous with the sauce.

As is the case most of th time, meatballs in sauce taste much better than they look.

© 2016 Gail J. Cohen

A spicy meatball (aka albondigas picantes)

The coming together of two loves is a beautiful thing. In this: the meatball and the flavours of Oaxaca. It’s Sunday and I want to whip up something delicious that uses some of the many Mexican chiles in the cupboard as well as the ground beef I took out the other night but didn’t end up using.  This happened:

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Sauce:

4 medium tomatoes

2 Oaxacan pasilla chiles

1 ancho chile

2 avocado leaves

2-4 garlic cloves (depends on the quality of your garlic)

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 small onion, sliced into four or so thick rounds

¼ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 cup chicken stock

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp oil

Meatballs

1 lb extra-lean ground beef

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 egg

¼ cup breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Stem and seed the dried chiles. On your comal or in a large non-stick frying pan, gently toast the chiles for a 10 or 15 seconds on each side until they are soft. Don’t burn or blacken them because your sauce will be bitter. Then place them in a bowl of enough boiling water so they are covered. You can add your avocado leaves to this too if they are very dry (ie: have been at your local grocer or in your cupboard for some lengthy period of time.)

Then dry roast the garlic (you can leave the husk on and peel it off afterwards), onion, and tomatoes on the comal.  Turn the tomatoes so you get blackening on all sides but don’t let them get too soft or all is lost. (You can also roast them under the broiler in your oven for 10 minutes or so until they’re blackened). Once everything is nicely toasted, add it all to your blender.

Add the chiles, avocado leaves, chopped cilantro, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt and a few tablespoons of the chile liquid to the blender and waz it up. Taste for salt and add more. If it’s a tiny bit bitter, you can add some sugar to counteract.

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan and once it’s good and hot, pour in the tomato-chile mixture so it sizzles. Add the cup of chicken stock and stir. If it’s still very thick, add a bit of the chile soaking water or just plain water to it. Turn it to low and let the mixture boil for 5 or 10 minutes. It’ll turn a deep shade of red.

In the meantime, add the egg to a glass bowl and beat it. Then add the ground beef, tomato paste, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper. Mix it all together with your hands. Once everything is well mixed, form walnut sized balls and add them to the boiling tomato-chile sauce.

Bring it all back to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for half an hour.

You can eat them right away or let them sit and get cozier with the flavours for a while longer. They are fine overnight in the fridge too.

Serve with the rice of your choice and topped with some sliced avocado.

(Weight Watcher Smart Points = 6 per serving)

© Gail J. Cohen 2016