Change Your Game Mexican Meatballs

Here's a recipe that might take you out of your comfort zone. Have a bit of courage with this one and you just might decide that your comfort zone has expanded! We've done this recipe twice and both times it finished out nicely. This is a three part recipe. The meatballs, soup and toppings will each be discussed separately.

Meatballs

2 - large fresh poblano chiles
1 - lb. ground beef, 20% fat
1/4 - cup finely grated onion
1/2 - cup coarsly grated zucchini
1/4 - cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 - large egg beaten to mix
2 - garlic cloves pressed
1 - tablespoon ground cumin
1 - teaspoon dried oregano (mexican oregano preferred) crumbled
1/2 - teaspoon salt

Soup

1 - tablespoon olive oil
1/2 - medium onion coarsely grated
2 - garlic cloves minced
2 - tablespoons arbol chile powder
2 - teaspoons ground cumin
1 - quart low-salt beef broth
1/2 - teaspoon dried oregano (mexican oregano preferred)
1 - cup coarsely grated zucchini
1/4 - cup long-grained white rice
1/4 - cup chopped fresh cilanto
1 - tablespoon fresh lime juice (or more)

Toppings

3 - tablespoons vegetable oil (more if needed)
4 - corn tortillas, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips
1/4 - cup chopped fresh cilantro

Meatball preparation

Before anything else is done, we must first skin the chiles. It's the hardest part of the recipe, but if I can do it, then you're likely to able to do so too. Here's the method - put the poblano chiles on a baking sheet and place them into an oven. Set the oven to broil. Have the baking sheet on the top rung of the oven so that the chiles are close to the broiling coils. We want to scorch the chiles on all sides, so keep an eye on them and rotate them as is necessary. They'll end up looking charred and this is what we want. Place them into a paper bag the fold the bag to enclose. We want the chiles to steam inside the bag for about 10 minutes using the residual heat from their time in the oven. Once this is done take the chiles out and begin the work of skinning, stemming and deseeding them. You should end up with about 3/4 cup of chile pulp which then needs to be chopped fine.

Combine all of the ingredients listed for the meatball segment, mix together gently. We want to form meatballs of 1 inch diameters by lightly rolling about 1 tablespoon of mixture between the palms of our hands. If the mixture is too goopy, then chill it for 30 minutes and try working it with water moistened hands. Cook the meatballs in a medium pot at a simmer using the 1 quart of beef broth. Cook for about 1 hour, remove the meatballs, reserve the broth. Separated into their respective containers place each into the refrigerator. We want to skim some of the fat from the broth and refrigeration will solidify the fat making it easier to remove. Remember, we are using an 80-20 mixture of hamburger. This will result in a smoother meatball but also makes fat removal from the broth a desirable part of the recipe.

Soup Preparation

OK, so we're back at it. We'll remove the fat from our refrigerated broth, it's solidified on top and it's now easy to dispose of. Using the ingredients listed under the soup portion, we'll put the oil into a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, saute for about 3 minutes until the onion is tender. Add the chile powder and cumin, stir 1 minute. Add the beef broth and oregano bring to a rolling boil. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and rice, raise heat to medium. Drop in the meatballs one at a time. Return soup to a simmer, cover the pot and cook until the rice is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Toppings

Here we're just crisping the corn tortillas in oil. Put oil into a fry pan and heat to medium. Put about 1/2 the tortilla strips into the fry pan, fry to crisp about 3 minutes. Remove and place the strips on a paper towel to drain, fry the remaining strips, same manner as before.

Serving

Ladle out meatballs and soup into a bowl, broth will be scant. Top with crisped tortilla strips and sprinkle with fresh cilantro. My taster-in-chief gave this recipe her highest marks.

Notes: Try to use a single source chile powder, we used chile de arbol. Most chile powders are a combination of spices and that would be a no-no in this recipe.

This recipe is best done in three stages. First, the night before serving, have all your vegetable chopping done and the measuring of all spices done as well. Also, we'll prepare the meat mixture. Refrigerate everything as we'll not do the second stage until the next morning. Before leaving for work the next day, heat the 32 ounces of beef broth in a medium pot to a soft boil. Take the meat mixture and roll your meatballs as previously described. As you finish rolling each meatball, place it into the hot beef broth. Cover the broth/meatball stew once all the meat mixture has been rolled into meatballs. Let the meatballs cook at a simmer for about one hour. Most likely, you'll be getting ready for work during this cooking time. Remove the meatballs when done, refrigerate broth and meatballs separately. When you come home from work you'll be starting the third and final stage, consider the recipe nearly done. Just restart the recipe where it's labeled soup preparation.

Memories of Roasted Chestnuts

Once again I delve back into my memories to come up with a blog post. And, once again, my memories are of the food my family ate as I was growing up. My father loved a working fireplace and so we always had a supply of wood laid in for the winter and on most every evening we'd have a fire going. This all took great effort. First dad would need to find a source of felled trees that no one else wanted. Then he'd load up the station wagon with his heavy red chain saw and other deemed necessary equipment. He'd bought the chainsaw used and it was always balky and always seemed to be undergoing refurbishment. Anyways, lastly he'd round up us not-so-spirited kids, perhaps even more balky than the chainsaw, and off we'd go to an akimbo splayed pile of logs for a day of wood cutting and hauling. Seeing a chainsaw rip through a log is undeniably a curious sight, but, such a task comes with a patent risk too; one year the chainsaw did bite into dad's leg. All of this is just to note how much my father loves a working fireplace. I guess I'll always have a warm feeling for fireplaces which will go beyond the physical warmth they're able to radiate.

Sometime around Christmas we'd try roasting chestnuts by the warmth of these fires. We had a special roaster bought just for these occasions. After cutting a slit on each chestnut we'd place them into the roaster and shake them for an interminable amount of time over the fire. Often, the heat would get to us before it got to the chestnuts and we'd sidle about the hearth looking for some protection from the heat while the chestnuts were cooking. The results weren't always spectacular but occasionally we'd get an exceptionally sweet nut roasted to perfection.

I found some chestnuts for sale in Houston and decided to give them a try. Soak the chestnuts in warm water for 20 minutes. Cut an X on their flat side (it's better than the single slit we did when we were young). Be careful not to cut into the meat. Place the prepared nuts on a cookie sheet then place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Roast for about 17 minutes, the edges of the shells should be peeling back from their exposure to the heat. Turned out nice and tasty!

Here's an interesting chestnut blog:
http//www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2005/10/31/from-soup-to-nuts.html