“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Eighteen years ago my sweet Hubby Norm and I, after months of soul-searching to determine if that was the right time to downsize and be nearer to our children, we made the move to Ben Lomond. The only thing I regret about this move is that we didn’t do it sooner.
During these warm summer mornings, I love getting up just prior to sunrise. I sit in my garden with my coffee cup in hand, watching the sun rise, and it’s like going to church without anyone talking. The sun rises just over Neighbor Mike and Heather’s two-story home. A lovely sight to behold.
Mike and Heather Boynton built and have lived in the same house since 1991, 32 years ago. Friends visiting me look across at their home and remark what a lovely and homey-looking house it is. Me, on the other hand, had lived in nine houses before I left high school, and then 14 more until we moved to Ben Lomond 19 years ago.
I have a friend who always remarks that my house always smells like food. Now I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, but when Norm would come through the back door, he would always remark how good dinner smelled. That’s good enough for me.
When a soft summer breeze is blowing through our neighborhood and I am baking cinnamon rolls, neighbor Mike knows he will soon see me crossing the street with a pan-full for him. Likewise, when I have decided to cook “Mexican” for dinner, those smells of cumin and cilantro waft across to his house as well.
Yesterday, I decided I would cook Albondigas Soup for the Soup/Salad/Let’s Talk luncheon I prepare monthly for the Senior Center in Scotts Valley. I am able to prepare a luncheon for 36 delightful seniors each month, along with unusual cookies.
The meatballs in this soup do not contain the usual “panade” of white bread or saltine crackers soaked in milk and stirred into a paste, and then added along with an egg, garlic, onions and parmesan cheese, these contain precooked rice as the filler.
Albondigas meatballs are made very simply with four ingredients and four spices.
This is a perfect summer’s soup, as our vegetable gardens and farmer’s markets are filled with all of the fresh vegetables I add to the soup.
My freezer is “always” filled with containers of beef and chicken stock, and in the summertime, I add containers of vegetable stock, which are so plentiful and reasonably priced right now, to be added in winter soups.
I’m making these Albondigas meatballs to be part of the soup for the Soup/Salad/Let’s Talk luncheon at the Senior Center. The ground hamburger I bought from Costco is $4.69/lb. That, and a half cup of cooked rice, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, onions and tomatoes with beef stock as the base, will give a family of four, dinner for less than $2/per person and it takes less than an hour in the kitchen to make.
These meatballs can also be made and dropped into a thickened tomato sauce, simmered for 30-45 minutes and served over Orzo, a very small rice-shaped Italian pasta. Kids love it and it is delicious!
One word of wisdom from the kitchen…meatballs do best when simmered slowly and they will not break apart. And another plus…these meatballs freeze beautifully. Wonderful for unexpected company. ENJOY!
Albondigas Soup
(serves 4)
Requires adding ingredients one step at a time. Read carefully before making.
For the meatballs:
1 lb. 90% lean ground round
½ cup “precooked” rice (I use long grain)
1 tsp. garlic
1 egg lightly whipped
¼ cup cilantro leaves, diced
1 tsp. cumin
¾ tsp. Kosher salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
Mix well all ingredients together…I use my dough hook on my Mixmaster.
Refrigerate 2-3 hours, and then roll into 1-inch balls. Place on a tray and refrigerate.
For the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
½ cup onion diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
½ cup diced carrots
Saute together 4-5 minutes, being careful not to brown.
Add to above ingredients:
1 ½ cups diced ½ in. pieces Russet potatoes
1 large zucchini sliced and then quartered. Set side.
6 cups beef broth
15 oz. can diced tomatoes, including juice
1 eight oz. can tomato sauce
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. oregano
¼ cup diced cilantro
Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 min.
Add Meatballs and bring to simmer and cook for 10 min.
Add reserved zucchini and simmer 5 minutes longer.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at [email protected].
