Meatballs in Chipotle Salsa

Manny and I were introduced to this dish down in Cozumel. We were familiar with Italian meatballs, of course, but Yucatán meatballs were decidedly different, they had boiled eggs inside them and they were served with a lovely smokey chile salsa that, once you tasted, you craved daily. This recipe is a more traditional Mexican albóndigas (meatball) without the egg inside it, but still packed with flavor from ground chicarrones and, of course, Casa M Spice Co® spices.

If you have a Hispanic market near you, go to the butcher and ask for fresh chicarrones. Not only are they ridiculously addictive, they are wildly good as "bread crumbs" in these meatballs. If can't get them fresh, grab a bag of good quality, non-flavored chicarrones. We used red onion here and think they fry up to be a little more tasty than a standard white onion would. When you fry these, you're just looking to brown the outside, not cook all the way through. You want the deep caramelization flavors that the frying process imparts. They will finish cooking in (and give up some of their juices to) the sauce.

As always, from our table to yours... #SpiceConfidently #EssenceOfFlavor #ChemistryInTheKitchen #CasaMSpice

— Mike Hernandez

ingredients

For the Albóndigas/Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
6 ounces chicharrones, pulverized either manually or in a food processor
3/4 cup red onion, minced
2 eggs, beaten
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 Tablespoon Casa M Spice Co® Chain Reaction®
1 Tablespoon Casa M Spice Co® Cattle Drive®

Pulling It All Together:

1 to 1-1/2 cup avocado oil (for frying)
1 recipe of Casa M Chipotle Salsa
cooked white rice
avocado, sliced
cilantro, leaves, plucked
tortillas

FEATURED QUOTE

If you have a Hispanic market near you, go to the butcher and ask for fresh chicarrones. Not only are they ridiculously addictive, they are wildly good as "bread crumbs" in these meatballs.

- Mike Hernandez

LET’S GET COOKING

1.
Add all the ingredients for the meatballs into a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
2.
Use a 1/4 cup measure and fill it level with the meatball mixture. Extract the mixture into your hands and split it into two equal halves. Form each half into a ball and place onto a baking sheet. For us this recipe yielded 42 meatballs.
3.
In a frying pan, heat 1 cup of avocado oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
4.
Working in relatively small batches so as not to cool the oil too much carefully add the meatballs to the frying pan and fry them just until they brown on all sides, then remove to a paper towel-lined platter. Repeat this for the whole batch of meatballs.
5.
To a thick-bottomed soup pot add the Casa M Chipotle Salsa and the meatballs. Heat over medium heat until it starts to simmer, then reduce the heat and cover.
6.
Let the meatballs simmer for 20-30 minutes, then adjust the consistency of the sauce to your preference if it's too thick by adding some chicken or vegetable stock. Adjust seasonings as needed.
7.
Serve this over white rice garnished with sliced avocado, cilantro, and tortillas.