Fool-proof Spanish meatball

The first trip I took with Fernando to Spain was an eye opening experience for me. I was fascinated with all aspect of Spanish culture sp. I found it so different and yet has some similarities to my asian and South American background. I have always love food and cooking so while I was in Spain I spent most my free time in the kitchen making notes with copious detail of every meal Fernando's aunt made. All his aunts are excellent cooks and made delicious food and I learned a lot from them.

The original meatball recipe came from both Fernando's aunt Ana Mari from Valencia and Tia Asun in Pamplona although I have tweak it as I always do with all the recipes. Albondigas or meatballs are as common as croquetas o tortillas (similar to Italian frittata with egg and potatoes, nothing like the Mexican counterparts) and every family has their own recipe. The most common recipe calls for a mix of ground beef, veal and pork and some quantities of breadcrumb this is to result in a soft and moist texture. Tia Ana Mari replaced the bread crumbs with finally chopped carrots. (Using food processor)The carrots not only gives a bit of sweetness but also a nice texture while keeping is super lean ground beef (95% lean grass fed beef) moist and delicious. Tia Asun also showed me how she use two spoons to form the meat balls and leave them a whole bunch in a dish with flour and shake the dish so the meatballs are coated with thin layer of flour. i improved is by using ice cream scoops. It is more fool proof to get same size meatballs for even cooking. In Spain my aunts would deep fry the meat balls in oil to cook them, and set their shape. I find baking them at 350 for 15 min in the oven achieve similar result with much less mess to clean up not to mention the health benefits of less fat.

This is another quick dish that is a stable in our house and I hope you will give it a try as well. This recipe will yield 34 albondigas of 40 calories each if you omit the pancetta you will reduce about 8 calories each. The serving below of 4 oz of cooked pasta and 5 albondigas is a very filling meal for only 360 calories.

1) use food processor to chop 1 to 1-1/2 onion (depending on size of the onion) 5-7 cloves of garlic and 2 -3 carrots. To this mixture in the bowl of the mixer. Preheat oven to 350

2) add 1 lb of ground beef (I recommend 95% grass fed ground beef from whole food) into the mixer bowl. Add a bunch of chopped parsley and seasoning to the bowl (1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper if you like, and 1 teaspoon of Spanish paprika). Add a egg to the mixture and blend for 3 minutes at medium speed

3) put 1/4 cup of flour in a plate and scoop out with an ice cream scoop the meat mixture and drop them in the plate with flour shake the pan so that all ball is coated with flour and shape them with your hands into round ball shape. Put eat meat ball in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

4) put it in preheated oven for 15 minutes

5) meantime, make the sauce. Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add 3-4 oz of Spanish ham, Spanish chorizo or pancetta. Here is one tip, in central market you can find meat ends of prosciutto, Spanish ham, or pancetta for less then 1/2 price. They are meat ends so you can use it to serve as appetizer due to its irregular shape however they are sold for less than 1/2 price so its great for cooking.

6) cook this in low heat then add 4-5 cloves of chopped garlic and cook in low heat until garlic is fragrant and sweet. Add a jar of crush tomatoes of your favorite brand and a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. Simmer for a few minutes. When the albondigas are done add them to the sauce and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Server over rice or pasta. Today we served with whole wheat pasta from whole food.