The Joys of illness-or Albondigas

Oh, I am sick. So sick. I have just taken two old fashioned sudafed (the kind that you have to get from the pharmacist these days, because they contain the active ingredients for Crystal Meth) and they didn't do anything. nada. still can't breathe.

So last night I decided if I'ma gonna be sick, to be sick in style. I am of course referring to soup. Had to make a big pot of soup so that there'd be hot steamy goodness at my fingertips when this thing takes a turn for the worse. But I am so tired of chicken soup I thought I'd venture out. So here is my new recipe for a wonderfully tasty...

Albondigas Soup.



Albondigas Soup

For the MeatBalls:
half # ground chicken

half # ground pork

1/3 cup Brown rice

fresh mint-roughly chopped

two very large cloves of garlic
or 4 small

salt and pepper

one half inch slice of a large onion chopped into very small dice

approx 3/4 cup breadcrumbs

one egg

Toss into a bowl: the two meats, the garlic, onion, mint, and the breadcrumbs. Quickly combine. Add the egg and see how well it combines, you may want to add more bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste but don't taste! This is raw chicken and raw pork, so figure a dense dusting with salt and pepper over the surface will be enough to season the inch or two of meat below.

Last mix in the rice.

Form into balls and refrigerate.

For the soup:

two carrots diced

two ribs of celery similarly diced

one half to one whole onion diced


these will be sauteed in a big pot with olive oil until they are browned and carmelized nicely.
Add:

About one third of a red cabbage shredded and chopped into bite sized pieces (green cabbage would be fine, maybe even better)

4 small Yukon gold potatoes peeled, diced

Sautee for a few minutes then:

Add water to cover and approx. 1 and a half cups of white wine.

Now is the time to broil the meatballs in the oven to get browned.
When they are browned nicely drop them in the soup.

Once the potatoes are edible (but not too soft) add:

half a bunch of chopped cilantro


one zucchini diced

1 teaspoon or more: oregano and thyme

a pinch: cumin seeds and rosemary

and salt and pepper to taste. (this you can taste the whole time)

This came out so good I am quite sure because of three things:


1. The long caramelizing of the vegetables


2. The luscious combination of Chicken and Pork


3. The free range pork and chicken taste so incredibly clear and clean.


Best of luck, I'm going to have my second bowl today.