Albondigas Soup

Since I was going to be out for the day, I thought it would be a good time to try out a recipe for the slow cooker.  There are loads of recipes out there but one that took my interest was for Albondigas Soup, which is a Mexican meatball soup. Since I was wanting to make mine in the slow cooker I decided to mix together the parts I liked best from a few different recipes I had found and this is what I came up with.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup of thick tomato soup
• 3 pints (1.5 quarts) of stock mixed with 3 pints of water
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 225 grams (1/2 lb) green beans, cut into one inch pieces
• 450 grams (1lb) mince
• 1/3 cup of uncooked rice
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas
• Parsley for garnish

METHOD

1.  Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and minced garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.  Place in the slow cooker.

2.  Slice the carrots and chop the beans.  Add to the slow cooker.

3.  Prepare the meatballs:  Mix the rice into the meat.  Add the mint and/or parsley, salt and pepper, raw egg and mix until well combined.  Form the mixture into one inch meatballs.

4.  Over medium heat, cook the meatballs in a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, until fully cooked.

5.  Add the tomato soup and broth mixture to the slow cooker.  Then add the meatballs to the slow cooker.

6.  Cover and cook on low for eight to nine hours, adding the peas during the last twenty minutes.  Garnish with parsley.

Serves 6-8

THE VERDICT

When I walked in the door the soup had a nice aroma and I was looking forward to trying it. However, the first bite was a bit disappointing.  Despite almost ten hours in the slow cooker the carrots and green beans were still a bit crunchy, although cooked.  This wasn't what I was expecting and while the meatballs were quite yummy, especially the taste of fresh mint, the soup itself wasn't really that exciting.  There just wasn't much flavour to it.  Combined with the semi-extensive preparation time the soup didn't score very high.  However, the meatball recipe is worth keeping.

Score: 40/100

The Search Begins

Back in January 2008, when I made my 101 list, I decided that I wanted cooking to feature on the list in some way.  I really enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes but like most people, I tend not to do it very often.  Well that was all about to change in the form of item number 49, which read:

49.  Find my signature dish.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about this task. Sure there were a number of recipes that I enjoyed and that got good reviews from family and friends but did narrowing down one of those recipes really equal finding my signature dish?  Somehow I didn't think so and so I thought about what I could do to achieve the task.  

Fast-forward one year and I once again was thinking about cooking more often and decided to have a go at cooking more and finding my signature dish via cooking many recipes - some new, some old - and ranking them.  Towards the end of the project, the top highest scoring meals would be competed against each other and tested out on family and friends to confirm the top favourite and this would then earn the award of being my signature dish.

And that is how we find ourselves at day zero of the search for my signature dish.

Wish me luck!