Albondigas árabe – my Moorish meatballs
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:58PM 
It is a bit cheeky of me to give my meatballs this name, because they are exactly that – mine. They are neither traditionally Spanish nor from the Moors, but they are packed full of Moorish spices and these are used a lot in the south of Spain where the Moorish influence is most prevalent. Indeed the Spanish are rather quick to add this suffix; a little pinch of cumin or all spice seems enough to mark a dish Moorish and so I am following suit. Oh, and a double whammy of alliteration in both languages was too much to resist.
I started out with the intention of making traditional Spanish albondigas, but even those would rarely involve chorizo or paprika, despite these both being typical Spanish ingredients. Then I got carried away and decided on a Moorish theme adding all spice, cumin, nutmeg and ground coriander too. The result was spicier than the meatballs you would typically get in a tapas restaurant in Spain, but it was wonderfully hearty and warming and the chorizo and paprika gave it a deep, smoky flavour. If you prefer something milder you could tone it down by using sweet smoked paprika and skipping the chilli. And for something smoother with less intensity, you might like to try adding thyme in place of the fresh coriander.
It is thanks to my friend Ray that I am a meatball convert. I never would have ordered them, let alone made them, before she made me her Italian style ones a few years back. It turns out I had just never had good ones.
A lack of seasoning is the first problem with bad meatballs and the problem is usually the meat. Most people will check a sauce for seasoning, but many don’t bother tasting the meat. All you have to do is fry off a little bit of the mix in the frying pan before rolling the meatballs to check you are happy with the seasoning.
Dryness is the second problem. This is sometimes caused by overcooking, but even meatballs that have been cooked just long enough can be on the dry side. I discovered a great tip for keeping them light and moist when reading Angela Hartnett’s Cucina:
The secret of making light meatballs is to add bread and milk; these bind the mixture together, and also give it a lovely softness.
In Hartnett’s recipe small cubes of stale white bread are soaked in milk before being added to the mix. I have since discovered that this is also the secret to the melt in the mouth albondigas I have had in Spain, so I now do it every time.
I do not use an egg to help bind the mixture because I find they hold together just fine with just the bread and the result is lighter. I recently learnt when watching How to Cook like Heston that even the bread is not really necessary because if you salt the mix enough, and I always like mine to be well seasoned, it will hold together by itself. This was something technical to do with proteins which I am afraid I can't remember but I will endeavour to find out and update the post.
This serves four as a main, assuming you are accompanying it with some crusty bread and a side dish such as salad or tortilla. As a tapas dish it could serve up to 10 depending how many other dishes there are and how big you make the meatballs.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
Olive oil, for frying
2 cooking chorizo sausages (approx 150g), sliced into rounds approx. 3-5mm thick
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
150ml red wine
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the meatballs:
50g stale white bread, cubed and crusts cut off (good quality bread not a generic supermarket loaf)
125ml milk
300g beef mince
300g pork mince
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin, toasted and ground
½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch chilli flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for frying
To serve:
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
Method
For the sauce:
Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat (you don’t need much oil the cooking chorizo will ooze fat when cooking). Add the chorizo and fry for 1-2 minutes. Before it starts to crisp, turn down the heat and add the onion and garlic, stir and cover for a few minutes to allow the aromatics to sweat.
Add the tin tomatoes and bring to a simmer before adding the red wine, paprika and seasoning with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer over a low heat while you prepare your meatballs.
For the meatballs:
Put the stale bread cubes in a bowl and cover with milk. Leave to soak.
Place the beef mince, pork mince, paprika, cumin, ground coriander, nutmeg, chilli flakes, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix it together and ensure all the meat and spices are well combined. Add the bread and milk mix and gently work it into the mix with your hands until it is evenly distributed.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry a small amount of the mixture to test it. Adjust the seasonings as necessary. When you are satisfied with your meat mix, use your hands to form the mix into balls (the size is up to you) and put to one side on a plate or other flat surface. In the same pan, fry the meatballs gently over a medium heat in batches until they are lightly browned on each side.
Add the meatballs to the sauce, cover and cook over a low heat until they are tender. The size of the meatballs will dictate how long you should cook them for, but it shouldn’t take any longer than 20 minutes.
To serve:
Gently stir through the fresh coriander before serving. As per introduction, accompany with crusty bread and a side, such as salad or tortilla.
Reader Comments (3)
Much as Im loving the moorish meatballs - I am seriously hanging out for Heston Blog...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post soon!!!
i know your busy but if your going to send me a 'make you jealous' text about how wonderful you heston night was - complete with snow and roaring fires and malbec afterwards - i think i deserve a post!!!!
Yum!! These look amazing Vix. Can't wait to try them!!
Hi Ray - I think you would really like them. A nice alternative to the ones you taught me when you came to stay :)