Albondigas!

Human Highlighter Suit Tally:  5

If you shop for meat at a traditional market in Spain and your carnivorism ranges across the standard farm animals, like mine does, you don’t just go to the butcher. You go to three different vendors—one for chicken, one for beef and simple pork (chops, tenderloins, etc.), and one for charcuterie, like sausages.  At the Mercat de la Libertat in Gracia, which we have begun to frequent, Mari sells us chicken (and rabbit, which we have not yet tried), Antonio sells beef and pork, and Henrik vends sausages (which he makes from scratch), cured meats such as jamon iberico, cold cuts and cheeses.  We went to the market on Monday morning this week because we had been thwarted on Saturday (see post called “September 11, Barcelona Style). 

After exchanging pleasantries with Mari and ordering three chicken breasts, we asked if they’d keep in the fridge until Thursday.  “Hombre, no,” she began, explaining that, since the market had been closed on Saturday, the meat had been there since Friday; we should cook it that night or freeze it.  It’s rare that you get that kind of honesty and advice from a butcher these days.  Normally I find myself pawing through cellophane-wrapped Styrofoam trays in the grocery store, trying to divine when the meat was packed and whether it’s still safe for consumption.

Albondigas (al-BOHN-dee-gahz) is the Spanish word for meatballs, and it is one of my favorite words in the Spanish language.  It’s not because I’m such a huge meatball fan, and the word “meatball” doesn’t really do it for me.  But the word albondigas just sounds so happy and enthusiastic to me—it begs to be followed by an exclamation point.  Something lifts in my heart when I say albondigas, and I can’t help but smile.

So maybe it’s that I’m in Spain, where meatballs are called albondigas—I don’t know, but this week I just felt like making some.  So I found a recipe, and went to the market for the ground pork, which Antonio’s wife ground fresh for us, and pork sausage, which we purchased from Henrik.  The recipe called for me to remove the sausage from its casing, but since Henrik made his own, he just sold me the sausage mixture, dotted with tiny flecks of truffle, which saved me a step.

The meatballs, succulent little bundles studded with pine nuts, were delicious.  Some of the pine nuts escaped from the albondigas during cooking, but they were none the worse for it.  Cinnamon adds a slightly sweet note, while the sweet pakrika adds a deep depth and the pine nuts lend richness. I served them over rice, in a light tomato sauce, with sautéed zucchini on the side.

The  recipe for the albondigas appears below.  It’s from The New Spanish Table, by Anya Von Bremzen (not a Spanish name, but please do not hold it against her). I do not have her permission to reprint this but I hope that if she ever comes across this blog, she will be grateful that I’ve sung her praises and made even more people aware of her fabulous work. Happy cooking!

Pine-Nut Studded Meatballs (Albondigas con piñones)

1 slice white sandwich bread, crusts removed (I used some leftover brioche)

6 oz. ground pork

4 oz. fresh pork sausage (preferably w/o fennel), casings removed, meat mashed w/a fork

1 tsp. sweet (not smoked) paprika

½ tsp. coarse salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp. dried oregano

1 small pinch cinnamon

1 large garlic clove, crushed w/a garlic press

2 heaping Tbsp. pine nuts

1 large egg

olive oil, for shaping the meatballs

1.     Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

2.     Place the bread in a small bowl, add water to cover, and let soak for 2 – 3 minutes.  Drain, squeezed out the excess liquid, and finely crumble the bread.

3.     Combine bread and all other ingredients except the olive oil in a large bowl.  Gently knead only to combine thoroughly—do not overmix,

4.     Lightly oil your hands w/the olive oil, then shape meat mixture into 1 ¼ inch balls and place on rimmed baking sheet.  Bake the albondigas, shaking the tray once or twice until they are lightly browned and firm to the touch, about 12 minutes.

My batch made 15 meatballs