Albondigas with Chipotle sauce

[King]

Albondigas with Chipotle sauce.

Albondigas are Mexican meatballs. They're prepared in differently depending where you come from. My Mom made albondiga soup, but I never cared for that too much. Instead, I made albondigas with sauce.

First I start with the sauce…which will have tasty fresh veggies, herbs, spices and very little water to help it all bind together.

Sauce

• 4 Roma tomatoes
• ½ medium Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbsp Chopped cilantro
• 2 cups Chicken broth
• 2 Chipotle peppers (from a can)
• ½ cup Adobo sauce

Instructions:

1. Setup the 2-zone grill method.
2. Roast the tomatoes and onion until you see some grill marks.
3. Put the tomatoes, onion and the rest of the items in a food processor and blend well. Don’t puree, leave it a little chunky.
4. Pour the sauce into a 9” x 12” aluminum foil pan.
5. Store it in the fridge until ready to use.

Grill the Roma tomatoes & onion

The sauce will be spicy, but with great flavor. If you want to tone down the heat, remove the seeds from the peppers or leave out the chipotles altogether. Mild heat will still be present in the adobo sauce.

Fortunately, I had a pound of ground lamb thawed out for making the albondigas. I never tried it before, but I know Mexican cuisine occasionally calls for lamb (aka…cordero). In addition, I had some ground chuck on hand to add even more flavor. If you don’t have ground lamb, use all chuck or ground pork instead.

Albondigas

• 1lb Ground lamb
• ½ lb Ground chuck
• ¼ cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• ½ cup Cooked rice
• ½ tsp Ground cumin
• ½ cup Bread crumbs
• 1 tsp Oregano
• Salt & Pepper

Also needed: ½ Medium onion (sliced into rings) and cilantro.



Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients together (except the onion) in a large bowl.
2. Add S&P to taste.
3. Mix all the ingredients well.
4. Form large meatballs, about 2” diameter.
5. When the grill is ready, place the meatballs on the cool side.
6. Place the foil pan with the sauce on the hot side of the grill.
7. Cook for 10 minutes with the lid on and vents wide open.

Meatballs on the grill

Once the 10 minutes are up, follow these directions:

1. Place all the meatballs and the sliced onion into the foil pan.
2. Move the foil pan to the cool side of the grill.
3. Check the fire, add more charcoal if needed.
4. Close the lid with the vents wide open.
5. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of your meatballs.
6. They are done when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Albondigas are cooking in the chipotle sauce

After the albondigas are done, let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Albondigas can be served with just a bowl of rice, but I served it with a side of black beans. Make sure to top the meatballs with sauce, onion and garnish with cilantro. Delicioso!

 

[Grafixgibbs]

Nice!

 

[smokeylips]

That looks delicious! I'm always looking for interesting things to cook outside. It looks like it would have lots of flavor.

 

[JediDog]

I've had both style of albondigas, soup and the other type with chipotle sauce and you can't go wrong with either one. Yours look great Art, thanks for sharing.

 

[Bonewagon]

That looks great! Very nice.

 

[King]

I've had both style of albondigas, soup and the other type with chipotle sauce and you can't go wrong with either one. Yours look great Art, thanks for sharing.

I appreciate the props.

There is also a version that has a piece of hard boiled egg in the center of the meatball.

Albondigas soup is unappetizing to me because boiling the meatballs renders it tasteless. And the soup itself tastes like watered down beef broth. I dreaded "soggy hamburger soup" night for dinner.

 

[Phubar]

I dig it!

 

[zwylde1]

Outstanding! :clap2:

 

[pat]

Just saw a version of the soup on Triple D the other night. Looked awesome...so does yours!

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Those look great!