Albondigas Soup

For over 25 years, we had a sign hanging in our kitchen that read, “I love a man with dishpan hands.” I finally retired it when we moved, but Chuck still does a lot of dishes, and he is a happy guy when I can figure out a one-pot meal. This recipe for a Albondigas soup fits that bill, plus it is a great dinner for chilly evenings.

The inspiration for this recipe appears in the “Cook’s Exchange” column in the February 1986 issue of Bon Appétit and was submitted by Linda Medina of Ontario, California. The “Cook’s Exchange” gave readers a chance to share “interesting, challenging recipes” with other magazine subscribers. I had eaten sopa de albondigas in Mexican restaurants over the years, but never attempted to cook it myself. It is relatively easy to put together and uses produce and ingredients that are readily available in the winter months.

I adapted Medina’s recipe, using equal proportions of ground beef and pork, and changing the technique for cooking the meatballs a bit.

While I agreed with the original recipe’s combination of vegetables, I increased the amounts of most.  I liked Medina’s suggestion of leaving the peels on the carrots and potatoes in the soup; those peels have important vitamins and give the soup a rustic look.

I mixed the egg, seasonings, and rice for the meatballs together before adding the two types of ground meat.  Once I put the meat in with this flavored binder, it didn’t take long to incorporate the seasonings.

Medina’s technique for the soup calls for boiling the meatballs separately in a pot of water before adding them to the vegetable stock, in order to reduce the amount of fat in the soup. I felt that cooking the meatballs in the soup base would add extra flavor to the dish; any grease could easily be removed by chilling the soup after preparation and removing any solids that formed on the top. Plus, if I cooked the meatballs directly in the stock, we would be using only one pot!

Once the meatballs have been par-cooked, putting together the rest of the soup is quite easy.

We found this soup to have a very flavorful broth that complemented the marriage of vegetables and rice-studded meatballs well.

It was satisfying, but not heavy.  Garnished with a few leaves of cilantro, the soup became a sopa.  And we only had that one pot to clean.

Albondigas Soup

Sunnyside Cook

Dawn Dobie

Meatball soup with Mexican flavors

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

For the meatballs

• 1 large egg room temperature
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 2 ¼ teaspoons dried mint leaves
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons uncooked white rice
• ½ pound lean ground beef
• ½ pound ground pork

For the broth

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium to large yellow onion chopped
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice
• 8 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 3 tablespoons uncooked white rice
• 5 carrots unpeeled but well scrubbed, cut in ¼ inch slices
• 2 stalks celery cut in ¼ inch slices
• 2 medium boiling potatoes unpeeled but well scrubbed, cut in ½ inch dice
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish, optional

Instructions

 

For the meatballs

• Place the egg, garlic, herbs, spices, salt, pepper, and rice in a medium bowl. Mix well. Add ground beef and ground pork. Mix well with your hands.
• Shape meat mixture into walnut-sized balls. Place on platter and refrigerate while you prepare the stock.

For the stock

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.
• Add minced garlic. Stir another minute.
• Add canned tomatoes with their juices to the onion-garlic mixture. Allow to cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add beef broth to soup pot. Raise temperature to high and bring to a boil.
• When the stock is boiling, add half of the meatballs, dropping them carefully by hand in various places in the pot so that they don’t stick together. Cook for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meatballs from the stock and place in a bowl. Don’t worry if a few bits of onions and tomatoes are in the bowl as well. (They will return to the soup later with the meatballs).
• Return the stock to boiling. Repeat the process with the remaining meatballs. Set meatballs aside.
• Add 3 tablespoons of uncooked rice, carrots, celery, and potatoes to the stock. Stir well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes.
• Add meatballs along with any accumulated juices in bowl to soup pot; stir gently. Cover and continue simmering for 30 minutes.
• Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired.

Notes

The meatballs can be made and formed a day ahead of time.  Cover them and refrigerate.

The soup can be made 2 days ahead of time. Transfer cooked soup to container, cover, and refrigerate. Skim any hardened fat from surface of soup before reheating.

Adapted from Linda Medina "Cook's Exchange" Bon Appétit (Feb. 1986)