Albondiga Soup

 

Albondiga {Mexican meatball} Soup is one of my families favorite. It is my hubby’s all time favorite. I must confess that i love making soup, a soup-a-holic if you may. This is what we had for dinner today.

Here are the ingredients:

yerbabuena {fresh mint}, garlic, masa fina, evoo, caldo de pollo {Knorr chicken bouillon}, organic tomato sauce, organic chicken stock, lean ground beef, secret ingredient: A-1 sauce, 1 egg, rice, salt,  and pepper.

&  lots of veggies: Mexican calabacitas, chayote squash, potatoes, onions, celery, baby carrots, cabbage.

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1. Sauté in olive oil  2 chopped celery stalks, 1/2 onion chopped, 1 minced garlic clove, and baby carrots (about 2 cups). I like to use the baby carrots because they are sweeter and I don’t need to chop them. Sauté until they onions are transparent?

2. add 3 quarts of organic chicken stock, 2 cans of tomato sauce ,I like my soup very tomato-ie,  don’t know if that’s a word, and 2 tsp of caldo de pollo- this depends on your taste, you could use more or less. Bring broth to a boil on medium to high heat.

3. to make the albondigas:

to 3 lbs of lean ground beef add finely chopped fresh mint ,about two heaping tablespoons. 2 cloves of garlic finely minced, 1/2 white onion finely chopped,  a handful of rice {yes a handful, sorry, I didn’t measure}  an egg, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper.

4. Add the masa in chunks. {You can buy masa at a market where they make tortillas, you only need a bit, if you can’t find it you can omit it.} add 3 tbsp of  A-1 sauce, my secret ingredient. Traditionally you don’t use this but I like the flavor it gives the albondigas.

5. mix ingredients with your hands until combined

6. roll the mixture  to make a ball a bit smaller than a golf ball and drop them into the boiling broth mixture.  I started to count how many albondigas the mixture yielded but I got distracted{the story of my life} and lost count. Let the soup come to a boil and reduce heat to a low simmer.

7. While the albondigas are cooking, cube 2 large  white potatoes and  1 chayote squash, add it to the soup, continue to cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and the rice in the albondigas is cooked.

8. cube  2 medium calabacitas and add it to the soup. These are Mexican calabacitas, they are squash and if you can’t find them at your grocery store you can substitute and use zucchini squash.

continue to simmer at low heat for another 5 minutes. until the calabacitas are soft.

9.Serve and top with thinly shredded cabbage, optional, but i love it this way . Add lime {i use Mexican limes} and red pepper flakes for some kick if you like chile. I do!

Enjoy, we did! Let me know if you like the recipe.

Almost forgot, makes about 8 big servings, enough for leftovers.