Spanish meatballs or Albondigas, are a lovely combination of pork and beef mince seasoned with wonderfully smoky sweet paprika, garlic and parsley.
They are traditionally served as a tapas, so the albondigas are smaller than a regular meatball. They are covered with a delicious rich tomato sauce, flavoured with red wine (preferably Spanish!) and more paprika.
I like to serve them with small roast charlotte potatoes; which when combined with the smoky tomato sauce are not dissimilar to patatas bravas.
If you prefer to serve them as part of a larger selection of tapas dishes, then just halve the recipe and make them smaller!
For the meatballs:
3-5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
400g beef mince
400g pork mince
75g breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon of flat leaf parsley
2 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika
1 egg
Seasoning
For the tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 x 400g cans of tinned tomatoes
100ml red wine (preferably Spanish!)
2 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika OR 1 teaspoon of paprika and 1 teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 bay leaves
Pinch of sugar
Seasoning.
To serve:
Grated manchego (optional)
To make the meatballs:
- Peel the onion and garlic.
- Grate the onion and finely grate or crush the garlic.
- Finely chop the parsley.
- Place all of the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine.
- Roll into 30 meatballs and place on a baking tray. Refrigerate for 30 minutes if time allows (this will help prevent them falling apart during the cooking process).
To make the tomato sauce:
- Peel and finely dice the onion.
- Peel the garlic and finely grate or crush.
- Heat the olive oil in a lidded sauté pan or large saucepan.
- Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
- Add the crushed garlic and sweet smoked paprika. Stir for a further 1-2 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Pour in the red wine, stir and let it bubble away for a couple more minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves and pinch of sugar. Season well.
- Bring the tomato sauce to the boil then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
To finish the dish:
- Whilst the tomato sauce is cooking, remove the meatballs from the fridge.
- There are enough meatballs for 6-8 people, so place the meatballs you wish to save for later onto a small baking tray and place in the freezer until frozen. Remove the baking tray from the freezer and put the meatballs into a food bag and return to the freezer for use on another day.
- Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a low to medium heat. Fry the meatballs until they are golden brown. Note that the meatballs burn easily if the heat is too high. You may need to fry them in batches.
- Once the sauce has been simmering for 10 minutes, add the browned meatballs and then gently spoon the sauce over the top of the meatballs.
- Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
