Albondigas Soup

Albondigas Soup

(Mexican Meatball Soup)

serves 8

(Mexico)

                                                                              Prep time: 10 minutes
                                                                              Cook time: 50 minutes
                                                                              Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

meatballs:

8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces raw chorizo sausage, casing removed
1 small onion, micro-planed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 large egg, beaten
2 cloves garlic, peeled and micro-planed
½ cup cooked rice
1/2 carrot, minced
½ teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
nonstick cooking spray

soup: 

2 cups diced onions
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups chicken broth
3 corn tortillas, chopped
1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained of juice
2 cups sliced button mushrooms, about 8 ounces
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
½ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 pound of escarole, trimmed and cut into 1/2 strips
Kosher or sea salt, to taste
 freshly ground black pepper, to taste

service:

sour cream
½ cup roughly chopped cilantro
corn tortillas chips

Preparation

meatballs:

Preheat oven to 400° F. and coat broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine the meatball ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Shape the meat mixture into ¾ to 1-inch diameter meatballs and place on the prepared broiler pan; you should end up with about 30 meatballs.  Bake meatballs until fully cooked, about 30 minutes.  

soup:

In a large pot over medium heat sauté the onions in the olive oil until they are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and the chili powder and cook an additional minute.  Add the chicken broth, tortillas and half the tomatoes; simmer for 5 minutes.   

Puree the soup in a blender in two or more batches.  Take caution, only fill the container of the blender to half or less of its capacity and cover the container with a cloth when pureeing as the hot soup will expand and may overflow if the container is filled too much.  

Return the pureed soup to the pot and add the remaining tomatoes, the mushrooms, the corn, cilantro, escarole and the meatballs.  Bring the soup to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.  Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. 

service:

Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls or into a large bowl for family service and serve garnished with roughly chopped fresh cilantro and accompanied by sour cream, and crisp tortillas chips.