Albondigas recipe for the New Year!

Doug's Albondigas Soup Recipe (also known as Mexican Meatball Soup)

Overall Preparation Time: about 2 hours

Ingredients:

Group 1 - -

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large garlic clove (chopped, minced, mashed)
1 large brown onion (quartered/chopped)

Group 2 - -

6 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound french cut green beans, chopped (canned/drained is fine, fresh is better)
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 pinch of chili powder
1 lime, cut (you will squeeze all of the juices into pot when the time comes to add this item, then discard the rest)
1 green bell pepper, gutted and cut into pieces about same size as carrot slices
1 can of tomato sauce, 8 oz.
1 can of diced tomatoes, 14 oz.
6 cans of chicken broth, 14 oz.
56 oz. of water (fill four of the chicken broth cans)

*** optional: pinch of crumbled oregano leaves, pinch of basil leaves. Fresh preferred. Soup is good without these spices, but it has a nice flavor with them as well. Try it both ways, see which you prefer.

Group 3:

(1) 1/2 pound of fresh ground beef
(2) 8 oz. packages of Farmer John Original premium pork links
1/2 cup of white rice/uncooked
2 large pinches of parsley flakes (fresh, chopped as fine as possible; or dried flakes are fine, but once again, fresh provides a better taste)
2 uncooked eggs

Group 4:

Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Cilantro (leaves only - remove stems)

Preparation:

Group 1 - Heat oil in over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Saute' until tender, about 5 minutes. Place all items in Group 2 into large pot, high heat. Add Onions and Garlic to pot. Bring to boil, then lower heat to low/medium and simmer for about 30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, combine all items in Group 3 in a large mixing bowl, adding about 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a reasonable amount of fresh ground pepper. It is best to mix it by hand. Be aware, if the items just came out of the refrigerator, it will be very cold on the hands. I tend to mix it for about ten minutes, or at least until it is obvious that the meat, rice, eggs, and parsley are thoroughly mixed.

After the soup has been simmering for 30 minutes, make walnut size meatballs out of the meat and drop them into the soup.

Cover, and bring the soup to a boil. Then, lower the soup to a low heat and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Season and garnish with the items (to your preferred taste) in Group 4 after the soup has simmered for an hour.

Be aware, Cilantro is strong, and some prefer it to be used sparingly. The soup is fine without it if you are unable to locate cilantro, but cilantro has a uniquely Mexican flavor that really adds to the soup.

Added note: I have made the soup with a chopped up potato, and sliced Italian squash before, and it was good, but I prefer to use these two items in my tortilla soup - a recipe I will have on this site someday in the future. There are many ways to make Albondigas, and some even use Chipotle Sauce. After years of experimentation, I have only come across one restaurant that I think makes better Albondigas than me. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Enjoy the soup.

Tomorrow night I plan to post my salsa recipe.