Holy wow! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a recipe. You know it’s bad when you hear, repeatedly, from different people that “they like my blog but haven’t seen a new post in a while.” This blog really has taken a back burner to my life recently. Cooking has not, oh no, I’ve been cooking up cool stuff every day like usual. Such as, the other day I made a ricotta cheese berry cake. (I really should have taken a picture of it) and I’ve been tryingto perfect a rib recipe on our new barbecue.
Anyway – today’s recipe is Albondigas Soup. I had this soup for the first time at a Mexican restaurant that’s a favorite of my old coworkers. I tagged along for lunch one day and soon walked away so full of this delicious soup! I HAD to make it at home again.
I did not grow up with traditional family recipe albondigas soup like I am sure so many of my friends have… so it may not be “like Mama made it” but, my recipe is very delicious and comes from a combination of various traditional recipes I found that morphed into this delicious soup.
This brothy meatball soup is packed full of veggies and is very comforting on chilly evenings.
Albondigas Soup
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- 1/2 cup cooked white rice
- 1 pound ground beef
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 jalapenos, diced with the seeds removed
- 2 zucchinis, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 quart of chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
- Salt and pepper
- Limes, diced onions and cilantro – for serving
To Do:
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add half of the diced onion and half of the jalepeno. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
Add the chopped zucchini, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of the cumin and cook for about 3 minutes.
Add the broth, water, can of tomatoes, 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Bring it to a low simmer and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the ground beef, garlic, the remaining diced jalapeño, the cooked rice, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
Shape the mixture into meatballs that are about 1 inch in diameter.
Add the meatballs to the soup and simmer until the meatballs are cooked, about 10 – 15 minutes.
Serve the soup in a bowl topped with fresh cilantro, diced onion and fresh lime juice.