La Noche de Las Albóndigas

[Don Cuevas]

I was up very early tonight, even for me: 12:45 a.m. I had bought ground beef and pork yesterday, to make Italian style sausage and three small hamburgers, which we ate for lunch; but I put off until early a.m a large batch of Sopa de Albóndigas. (Meatball Soup. It's mild but tasty. I think anyone except a vegetarian would like it.)

AlbÓndigas. One of the funniest sounding words in the Spanish language.

Another 1.5 lbs of mixed meats went to making Albóndigas Al Chipotle, larger meatballs simmered in a punchy, chipotle chile seasoned tomato sauce.

I just taste tested this, spooning one albóndiga over a bed of rice and putting on a generous amount of the sauce. It's excellent. The various chipotle seasonings, sauces etc, give me a comforting warm glow in the pit of the panza. It's not searingly picante, but nevertheless, I can sense the endorphins kicking in.

Sorry, no pics. I can either cook or take pictures (most of the time).

Here's one borrowed from the Web, via Google images.



Here's the web page and recipe, plus more nice pics.
tinyurl.com/AlbondigasAlChip

Note that mine are neither as smooth and perfect as those in the recipe. Also, FWIW, I'm pretty sure the blogger is an Español, no es un Mexicano. There are several clues. As we all know, the two cuisines are very different.

Also, I never put any fillings in my meatballs. To me, it's a lot of fuss for not much reward. The worst filling idea is to put coarsely chopped hard cooked egg inside. That's not just bad. It's an albóndigas abomination. ¡Gúacala!

[Deleted]

Spanish or Mexican, the photo looks quite appetizing. I think I would need a few vegetables with that, however.

[lagatta]

I was sure Albóndigas was an Arabic word, and indeed: La palabra albóndiga es término procedente del árabe al-bunduqa, ‘la bola’. Los árabes enseñaron a los europeos a preparar este guiso de bolas de carne. El historiador granadino Luis del Mármol documenta el término en su Descripción general de África (1573): «Venden fideos, almojábanas y albóndigas hechas de carne picada con especias y fritas en aceite». es.wikipedia.org/

[Don Cuevas]

Oct 18, 2013 2:12:34 GMT lagatta said:

I was sure Albóndigas was an Arabic word, and indeed: La palabra albóndiga es término procedente del árabe al-bunduqa, ‘la bola’. Los árabes enseñaron a los europeos a preparar este guiso de bolas de carne. El historiador granadino Luis del Mármol documenta el término en su Descripción general de África (1573): «Venden fideos, almojábanas y albóndigas hechas de carne picada con especias y fritas en aceite». es.wikipedia.org/

Excellent research La Gatta; gracias. I may incorporate that into my blog, even though I didn't take pictures of the finished product.

My recipe was based on one in Cocina de la Familia, by Marilyn Tausend.

Yes, K2, vegetables would be good in with it or separately. I think that it's usually served on rice.

Now I am finishing up making a monster sized batch of Sopa de Milpa. More later, si Dios lo quiere.

[bixaorellana]

Albóndigas al chipotle is one of my favorite foods in the world. I make mine smallish.

If I were saying this instead of typing it, you'd know that I am snickering. That's because I was permanently traumatized by the word albóndigas on my first trip to Mexico, lo those many years ago. I had painful tonsilitis, & even though I'd looked up the word for tonsils before visiting the pharmacy, I managed to ask for something to take for when the albóndigas gave me pain. Still never remember the word for tonsils.

Ha! Just looked it up & immediately forgave myself for what is obviously logical confusion.

SPOILER: Click to show

tonsils = amígdalas

[Don Cuevas]

Oct 18, 2013 5:23:39 GMT bixaorellana said:

Albóndigas al chipotle is one of my favorite foods in the world. I make mine smallish.

If I were saying this instead of typing it, you'd know that I am snickering. That's because I was permanently traumatized by the word albóndigas on my first trip to Mexico, lo those many years ago. I had painful tonsilitis, & even though I'd looked up the word for tonsils before visiting the pharmacy, I managed to ask for something to take for when the albóndigas gave me pain. Still never remember the word for tonsils.

Ha! Just looked it up & immediately forgave myself for what is obviously logical confusion.

SPOILER: Click to show

tonsils = amígdalas

Ha! Muy chistoso.