recipe & ficathon panic
For the record, as posted over at ignipes's latest entry:
Reg's Mexican Meatball Soup
Recipe (and it's such a bastardization of real sopa de albondigas but this is because I'm a picky eater and I make things how I "like" them):
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped (I say go Spanish or Vidallia, I love those the most)
6 garlic cloves, minced (um, but I totally use a head of garlic)
4-6 cups low sodium chicken broth (Trader Joe's sells one with amazingly low sodium)
1 (14 1/2) can stewed tomatoes (preferably with green peppers and onions)
1/2 to 3/4 cup long-grain white rice
3/4 to 1 pound lean ground beef (10% or less fat)
1/4 seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
cumin (I don't measure this, but probably a teaspoon or two?)
chilli powder (1/2 of cumin amount)
garlic powder (um, used several times, as noted in recipe)
a packet sazon con tomate y culantro (for broth) - Goya Product
a packet sazon con azafran (for meatballs) Goya Product
saffron, around six threads or more (a pinch)
fresh cracked black pepper
paprika, about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (Trader Joe's Roasted Corn Kernels are AMAZING)
1/2 to 1 cup chipotle salsa (depending on how brave you are)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
limes, to be cut into wedges
organic blue corn tortilla chips
Heat oil in a nonstick Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook the onions and garlic until softened (3 to 5 minutes in my experience).
Add the broth, tomatoes, and rice to the onions and garlic. Add the following spices: saffron, sazon (con tomate y culantro), paprika, garlic powder (yes...more garlic), black pepper, cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes (until rice is tender).
Mix the beef, bread crumbs, cumin, chilli powder, garlic powder, paprika, remaining sazon packet, black pepper, cheese, and egg in a large mixing bowl. Shape into meatballs, all of roughly equal size.
Stir the corn and the salsa into the simmering soup in the Dutch oven and return to a simmer. If more liquid is necessary, add about 1/2 cup to a cup water, not broth. Drop the meatballs into the soup. Cover and simmer, stirring gently until the meatballs are cooked through (my original recipe stated 20 minutes but I find it doesn't take that long). Stire in the cilantro at this point.
Serve in shallow bowls or deep plates with lots of lime wedges, squeezing at least the juice of one lime wedge spritzed over each serving. I tend to pile the chips in the bowl off on one side because I serve the soup very shallow, about 3/4 of an inch of liquid at most, but serving the chips separately is awesome as well.
You can totally make changes to this recipe, knock out the sazon packets if you can't get them and just add more saffron/paprika/whatever. You can substitute the chipotle salsa for real chipotles, only make sure you know how much heat you can handle, this is a slow burn kind of soup.
***
I really, really need to organize all my ficathons. The gen ficathon WILL be finished even if I have to throttle a certain Winchester to get him to shut up. NO I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE 5,000 words, you SON OF A BITCH. Stop IT.
Dammit, I was never this wordy UNTIL Superfuckingnatural.
ignited has joined me in my quest to write the Winchester boys into The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the reel_spn ficathon. People, if you saw our chat last night...oh, the PORN that we will be writing. And the cross-dressing. And the makeup. Corsets. THE SWIMMING POOL. Um.
*is full of kinky glee*
But BEFORE I get my perv on, back to gen. ALWAYS GEN.
Reg's Mexican Meatball Soup
Recipe (and it's such a bastardization of real sopa de albondigas but this is because I'm a picky eater and I make things how I "like" them):
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped (I say go Spanish or Vidallia, I love those the most)
6 garlic cloves, minced (um, but I totally use a head of garlic)
4-6 cups low sodium chicken broth (Trader Joe's sells one with amazingly low sodium)
1 (14 1/2) can stewed tomatoes (preferably with green peppers and onions)
1/2 to 3/4 cup long-grain white rice
3/4 to 1 pound lean ground beef (10% or less fat)
1/4 seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
cumin (I don't measure this, but probably a teaspoon or two?)
chilli powder (1/2 of cumin amount)
garlic powder (um, used several times, as noted in recipe)
a packet sazon con tomate y culantro (for broth) - Goya Product
a packet sazon con azafran (for meatballs) Goya Product
saffron, around six threads or more (a pinch)
fresh cracked black pepper
paprika, about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (Trader Joe's Roasted Corn Kernels are AMAZING)
1/2 to 1 cup chipotle salsa (depending on how brave you are)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
limes, to be cut into wedges
organic blue corn tortilla chips
Heat oil in a nonstick Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook the onions and garlic until softened (3 to 5 minutes in my experience).
Add the broth, tomatoes, and rice to the onions and garlic. Add the following spices: saffron, sazon (con tomate y culantro), paprika, garlic powder (yes...more garlic), black pepper, cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes (until rice is tender).
Mix the beef, bread crumbs, cumin, chilli powder, garlic powder, paprika, remaining sazon packet, black pepper, cheese, and egg in a large mixing bowl. Shape into meatballs, all of roughly equal size.
Stir the corn and the salsa into the simmering soup in the Dutch oven and return to a simmer. If more liquid is necessary, add about 1/2 cup to a cup water, not broth. Drop the meatballs into the soup. Cover and simmer, stirring gently until the meatballs are cooked through (my original recipe stated 20 minutes but I find it doesn't take that long). Stire in the cilantro at this point.
Serve in shallow bowls or deep plates with lots of lime wedges, squeezing at least the juice of one lime wedge spritzed over each serving. I tend to pile the chips in the bowl off on one side because I serve the soup very shallow, about 3/4 of an inch of liquid at most, but serving the chips separately is awesome as well.
You can totally make changes to this recipe, knock out the sazon packets if you can't get them and just add more saffron/paprika/whatever. You can substitute the chipotle salsa for real chipotles, only make sure you know how much heat you can handle, this is a slow burn kind of soup.
***
I really, really need to organize all my ficathons. The gen ficathon WILL be finished even if I have to throttle a certain Winchester to get him to shut up. NO I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE 5,000 words, you SON OF A BITCH. Stop IT.
Dammit, I was never this wordy UNTIL Superfuckingnatural.
ignited has joined me in my quest to write the Winchester boys into The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the reel_spn ficathon. People, if you saw our chat last night...oh, the PORN that we will be writing. And the cross-dressing. And the makeup. Corsets. THE SWIMMING POOL. Um.
*is full of kinky glee*
But BEFORE I get my perv on, back to gen. ALWAYS GEN.