Recipe
Spanish Beef Meatballs in Almond Sauce (Albondigas en salsa de almendras)
Posted by : unknown
Preparation time : 1 Hrs 0 Min
Cooking time : 1 Hrs 0 Min
Level of difficulty : Medium
Ingredients
6 servings
- Meatballs
- 2 ounces (2'8 Kg) white bread or brown bread, crusts removed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 lb (500gr) fresh lean ground beef or ground lamb
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, plus extra to garnish
- 1 egg, beaten
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- flour, for coating
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- lemon juice, to taste
- salt and pepper
- crusty bread, to serve
- Almond sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ounce white bread or brown bread
- 2 cups blanched almonds
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 3/4 cups vegetable stock or water
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Make meatballs :
- Place bread in a bowl and add water. Let soak for 5 minutes. Using your hands, squeeze out the water and return the bread to the dried bowl. Add meat, onion, garlic, parsley and egg. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Knead the ingredients well to form a smooth mix.
- Spread flour on a plate and with floured hands, shape the mixture into 30 balls, then roll each again in flour until coated.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottom skillet. Add meatballs and cook for 4-5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove meatballs and reserve.
Make sauce :
- Heat oil in same skillet in which the meatballs were fried. Break the bread into pieces, then add to the skillet with the almonds and cool gently until the bread and almonds are golden brown. Add the garlic and fry for an additional 30 seconds. Pour in the vegetable stock or water and boil for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste. Cool.
- Transfer the almond mixture to a food processor. Pour in the rest of vegetable stock and process the mixture until smooth. Return to skillet.
- Add meatballs and simmer 25 minutes or until tender. Taste and season if necessary.
- Transfer all to serving dish. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley to garnish. Serve piping hot with crusty bread for mopping up the almond sauce.
