Here is my version, of course every caldo de albondigas has pretty much the same base (mine was my momma’s). And I used beef instead of turkey. Also, you MUSTN’T skip this step, this caldo MUST be accompanied by a couple of lightly cheesed and unbuttered flour quesadillas per serving! And preferably washed down by some homemade Jamaica-a delectable recipe which i will also post!
This one probably serves several, or 2 1/2 with a good day and a half’s worth of leftovers, as was the case for us ;)
Ingredients:
For the albóndigas:
For the caldo:
For the quesadillas:
Getting Down:
Fill a big pot about 2/3ish full of water. While the water is coming to a boil, finely mince the garlic, onion, cilantro, tomato and chiles (and de-vein and de-seed) and mix together all the albóndiga ingredients really well. Add the bay leaves, salt, chicken bouillon, knorr powder and tomato sauce to the water. Gently form balls out of the mixture. I like to make them slightly smaller than a golf ball, if you make them too big the’ll fall apart while they cook. Set aside.
Chop all the vegetables (potato, carrots, zucchini, etc) and throw into the water (except for the zucchini, simce they cook so fast I put those in with the meat). Also throw in the serrano chiles, whole (if you open them it will spice up like crazy, i like to throw them in there for flavor and then put one in each individual serving, THEN open it, and spare those who don’t fancy spicyness). I like to put my vegetables before the meat, because the albóndigas tend to fall apart if cooked too long. Once the carrots feel slightly tender, gently throw in the albóndigas, zucchini, cilantro and pinch of rice and any needed salt/garlic salt.
Lower the heat, cover and let cook until it seems done (vegies are tender and caldo has thickened)! Make sure to keep checking/adjusting for any needed salt/extra water). Also, you can collect and throw out the brown foam/fat that gathers at the top.
Once it’s cooled down, shred that cheese and make some thin crispy flour unbuttered quesadillas!
Chowing Down:
Stuff your face and wash down with some Jamaica! UGH, amazing…
Here I go! I’ll probably have only two followers, BUT this is mostly for me to keep track of my food making repertoire, since I always seem to have a hard time remembering what I know how to make! So, I guess this is more like my food diary! What a fat slob I am…but don’t fear and panic for me, I am on a mission to begin working out and get back to my pre-baby self! So even if some of the food is sinfully buttery, I will not have to abandon it for life!
On a another note, I don’t tend to measure if it’s my own concoction, I suppose I can estimate, but if I followed a recipe and have the measurements (more or less b/c I also tend to not follow those exactly), I’ll include them. This ain’t no shmancy cookin’ either, I’m no chef, I just love food and really, really enjoy cooking. Also, I will probably add photos of delicious food I get to consume from other magical kitchen-slaving hands!