This recipe and photos are courtesy of Cynthia Detterick-Pineda of Andrews, TX. More of Cynthia's
Southwest Recipes.
Soup in New Mexico and in Mexico comes in two forms, Sopa and
Sopa Seca (dry soup). To say dry soup sounds like an oxymoron. How can
something like soup be dry? It isn’t that the soup is dry so much as it
isn’t really a soup, but something more like a stew or even a
casserole. It may be a dish that started out more like a soup, but the addition of multiple
vegetables or meats makes it so hearty that it can only be considered a
stew. Sopa de Albondigas is one of those soups. It can be served as a
soup, with a rich broth for the meat and vegetables to almost “swim” in,
or it can be “beefed” up to a stew like dish, with loads of meatballs,
carrots, squash, or other vegetables. The recipe here is one for the
actual soup, not the sopa seca, but it can be easily changed to make
this sopa a seca one.
More great
Soup, Stew, and Chili Recipes.
Meatball Soup - Sopa de Albondigas
Recipe Type:
Soup,
Beef,
Pork,
Rice,
Tomato Salsa
Cuisine:
Southwest,
Mexican
Yields: 6 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh ground beef
1 pound fresh ground pork
1
egg
1/3 cup uncooked rice
1 tablespoon finely-chopped yerba bueña (mint leaves may be substituted)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small
onion, finely diced
2 cloves
garlic, finely diced
2 quarts beef broth or stock*
1 can (10.5 ounces) diced
tomatoes
Corn Tortillas or
Flour Tortillas or crackers
Fresh Tomato Salsa or
Salsa Verde
* May substitute 8 cups of water
with 6 teaspoons
Better than Bouillon dissolved in it.
Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix the ground beef and pork together. Add the egg, uncooked rice, and yerba
bueña (mint); mixing it well. Make balls out of the meat mixture that are approximately 1 to 2 inches in diameter; set these to the side while you
prepare the broth. This should make about 2 dozen (24) meatballs.
In a large soup pot or
Cast iron Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat.
Add the onion and sauté until clear. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for another minute. Add the beef broth and the canned tomatoes to the soup pot and
increase the heat so it comes to a full boil.
Carefully add the meatballs, 1 or 2 at a time to the boiling mixture. NOTE: You
want to add them slowly enough that the broth is still boiling when you add
more (this helps to keep the meatballs together by quickly cooking the
outside of the meatball).
Once all the meatballs are added,
reduce the heat to medium low and cover. Continue to cook for 30
minutes, without stirring. Remove from heat.
Serve with
Corn Tortillas or
Flour Tortillas or even crackers as a soup, and a good salsa of your choice to add a little spice to the dish.
Makes about 6 servings.
