Chicken and Chorizo Meatball Soup – Albondigas

Albondigas

The first time that I saw “Albondigas” on a menu was at our Christmas dinner in an excellent neighborhood restaurant outside of Cabo San Lucas. At La Fonda the Albondigas (meatballs) were served in a heavy tomato sauce on a large plate as an entree. After a bit of research I found that the Mexican meatball preparation is similar to the Italian preparation, of course a spicy sausage is used, in this case chorizo.

To adapt the recipe for The Little Kitchen we’ve used our house made ground chicken in place of ground beef. Another twist is using pre-cooked brown rice instead of bread crumbs.

This soup is intended to be a light, brothy, chicken stock preparation. If you like it thicker just use more tomato and less chicken stock to adjust for your table.

Ingredients for Meatballs:

1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons diced sun dried tomato
1/2 pound chorizo (chopped into small pieces)
1 cup mirpoix ( celery, carrot, onion) diced fine
2 eggs
1 cup pre-cooked brown rice
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin

Pre-heat your oven to 350ºF

Mix the meatball ingredients in a bowl completely then roll the meatballs to the size you like, we make them small, about the size of a quarter, so they cook quickly and are easy to eat on a spoon.

Place the meatballs on a sheet pan that’s been lubricated with vegetable oil (2 tablespoons). Put the sheet pan in the hot oven for 30 minutes.

While the meatballs cook bring the soup together on your stove top.

Ingredients for Soup:

2 cups mirpoix, 1/4 inch diced
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 quart chicken broth
1 can (18oz) Muir Glen chopped tomatoes
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chipotle chili
salt & pepper to taste
cilantro for garnish

Start with the mirpoix, garlic and oil in a soup pot and stir over medium heat, when soft, add the rest. Bring the soup to a simmer. When the meatballs are ready, remove from the oven and place them in the soup while hot (take care not to transfer extra oil). Serve hot with a cilantro garnish if you like.

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