Meatballs in Saffron-Almond Sauce

These are typically known as Albóndigas con Picada de Almendra in the Spanish Tapas way of doing things. I have seen these before and have always wanted to make them. Recently I have started testing out recipes for a project I am putting together. Hopefully I will be able to tell you more later, but for now I have to be quiet about it.

Usually I try a new recipe for Sunday night meals but since New Years Eve fell on Sunday this year the "dinner" consisted of several beers, a Guinness, and a glass of red at midnight. I tend to get an instant headache from champagne so I pretty much stay away from it, I prefer my headaches the next morning. Well the first day of the new year I decided I would make this dish. I wanted something else besides the meatballs and the first thing to come to mind was pasta. Now I did not want to just combine the two so I made basically two separate dishes.

I recently bought Jamie Oliver's new book "Jamie's Italy". He did a companion show on the travel channel that we caught a few episodes of recently. The book is really well done and has a lot of nice recipes that I am looking forward to trying out. There was one recipe that kind of stuck out that was a almond pesto pasta dish. I did not have basil on hand but I did have oregano so I used this instead. The pesto came out quite nice with this change and was quite a welcome change from the sometimes overpowering taste of basil.

1 lb of dried spaghetti

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

5 1/2 oz almonds, skins on or off ( I chose blanched skinned almonds)

1 clove of garlic

4 large handfuls of fresh basil ( I used two sprigs of fresh oregano)

crushed red pepper to taste

5/2 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatoes ( I used 3- roma tomatoes)

Combine garlic, basil, almonds and 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a blender. Process until a rough pesto forms.

Place tomatoes, just-made pesto, and red chile pepper in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Lightly mash ingredients with a fork and set aside.

Cook the spaghetti.

When pasta is ready, drain and place in shallow pasta dishes (depending on what kind of a host you are: individual serving dishes or one large serving dish). Add the raw tomato-basil sauce. Toss well. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve with extra cheese for the table.

I also use a little bit of the pasta water to tie together the pesto.

For the meatballs I followed the recipe pretty sraight forward except for the onions **.

MEATBALLS
400	g ground beef
400	g ground pork
50	g stale bread, crusts removed (2 slices)
	milk
1	clove garlic, minced
3	tablespoons minced onions
2	tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2	teaspoon salt
	freshly grated nutmeg
1	egg, beaten
	flour
100	ml olive oil
SAUCE
40	g almonds, blanched and skinned
1	slice bread, cubed (25g)
3	tablespoons olive oil
10	peppercorns
1/2	teaspoon saffron
1	clove
1/2	teaspoon ssalt
150	ml white wine
250	ml meat stock or chicken stock
TO SERVE
	lemon juice
	chopped parsley
	slivered fried onions

1. Combine the meats in a bowl.
2. Soak the bread in enough milk to cover until soft.
3. Squeeze dry, and add to the meat along with the garlic, onion, parsley, salt, nutmeg and egg.
4. Knead well to make a smooth mixture.
5. Form into small balls.
6. Roll them in flour and fry very slowly in medium to hot oil until browned on all sides.
7. Remove and drain.
8. *The oil can be strained, and used for the 3 tablespoons needed in the sauce.
9. SAUCE: Fry the almonds, bread and garlic in the oil until golden.
10. Remove.
11. In a mortar, crush the peppercorns, saffron, clove and salt.
12. Place this in a food processor and add the almond/bread/garlic mix and wine.
13. Pulse to a smooth paste.
14. Combine this mixture, 3 tablespoons of oil, and the stock.
15. Bring to the boil, then add the fried meatballs.
16. Simmer the meatballs for 20 minutes in the sauce, adding a little more liquid if needed.
17. TO SERVE: Squeeze over some lemon juice to taste, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and slivered almonds.

I did have to Google g/ml conversion since I cannot remember what their equivalent is ( damn Shiraz-I blame you)

All in all this dish was quite good and definitely worth making again. The only change I would suggest is after simmering the meatballs in the sauce, return them to the pan briefly to give them some color before plating.

** Basically I do not want to kill my wife who is deathly allergic to onions.

Comments

[Lisa (Homesick Texan)]

That sauce sounds divine (I'm crazy for saffron). And it's probably a good idea to not kill your wife.

[Chicken Fried Gourmet]

Thanks Lisa. This recipe is definitely a keeper, but I would suggest searing the meatballs before serving for presentation sake. I will be trying out the duck confit tamales soon so watch out :)

[Roberto N.]

Looks good... I'll be trying this one.