Post by the Scribe on Sept 20, 2022 15:12:26 GMT
Albondigas
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY LINDA RONSTADT AND BILL STEEN
RONSTADT FAMILY MEATBALLS
Albóndigas de la Familia Ronstadt
Great Grandmother Margarita
Linda Ronstadt's great-grandmother
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY LINDA RONSTADT AND BILL STEEN
My great-grandmother Margarita taught my father to cook, but his mom was a great cook too. She made this dish most days for my grandfather when he came home from the hardware store for a hot lunch. I loved having it for dinner at my grandparents’ house. My grandmother set an elegant table, and these delicate albóndigas, made fragrant with mint and cilantro, were often the soup course.
Makes about 65 meatballs, or 8 servings
3 pounds ground beef, preferably flank and round steak
6 medium tomatoes, preferably plum
½ cup fresh mint, finely chopped
½ cup cilantro, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 medium scallion, minced
2 tablespoons oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ cup olive oil or melted lard
6 cups boiling water
Lime wedges, for serving
Put ground beef into a large bowl.
Broil tomatoes just until the skin can be removed easily. Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Puree in a blender. There should be about 1½ cups.
Add mint, cilantro, garlic, scallion, oregano, salt and pepper to the meat.
Mix well. Add tomatoes and knead mixture.
Add oil or melted lard, incorporating it into the meat mixture by kneading. Test the mixture by forming a piece into a ball the size of a walnut. It should hold together.
Proceed to form walnut-sized balls, and then drop a few at a time into boiling water. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve meatballs in the liquid in which they were cooked, with lime wedges on the side.
Nutrients per serving: 450 calories, 36g protein, 3g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 32g fat, 115mg cholesterol, 200mg sodium
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY LINDA RONSTADT AND BILL STEEN
SONORAN CHEESE SOUP
Caldo de Queso
This soup embodies what I love about Sonoran cooking: It’s deliciously simple. You can find the queso fresco, a light farmer cheese, at your local Latino market.
Makes about 10 servings
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium white onion, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
5 green Anaheim chiles (also called New Mexico chiles or California chiles), roasted, peeled and cut into strips
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
8 ounces queso fresco, cut into small cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas, for serving
Chiltepin chiles, for garnish
In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add potatoes and onion and cook, stirring, until onion is soft, about 4 minutes. Add tomato, Anaheim chiles and salt; cook another 5 minutes.
Add broth and simmer until the potatoes are soft, then turn heat to low. Slowly add milk.
To serve, put a few cubes of queso fresco into each bowl and pour soup over them, or stir all the cheese into the simmering pot. Add salt and pepper. Serve hot with warm flour tortillas. Garnish with chiltepin chiles.
Nutrients per serving: 180 calories, 6g protein, 14g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 11g fat, 20mg cholesterol, 1,050mg sodium
Linda Ronstadt is a multiplatinum recording artist and the author of the autobiography Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir. This story is adapted from Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands, by Linda Ronstadt and Lawrence Downes, copyright © 2022 Linda Ronstadt and Lawrence Downes, released October 4 by Heyday.