Chicken Albondigas Soup: Or, Soup With Yummy Meatballs In It

Hi!  So this soup was tasty - light and flavourful. The prep was a little multi-pronged without being hella overwhelming. Good soup to have in the repertoire, and nice at this transitional time of year, otherwise known as Sprinter.

Note the knife scrape-marks I implemented on the chipotles
(2nd from top left) to make this photo more pretty.
I am SUCH a perfectionist.

Also, this soup felt (and was) healthy. I spent the weekend at a bachelorette party, and let me tell you, "healthfulness" was not part of the festivities. We mainly consumed nacho chips, regular chips, about 11 different kinds of dips, and probably 8 pounds of cheese. Whatevs, we had a salad at one point. Don't judge.

If you had time, you could do up the meatballs beforehand (even the day before), and then putting the soup together would be a total breeze. As it stood I kinda puttered around doing different parts throughout the day. Because I obviously have nothing but time.

Chicken Albondigas Soup
This recipe is from an ahmaaazing cookbook that I routinely leave open on my counter for browsing purposes. And see, I stumbled upon this and happened to have ground chicken! Fate. It's the Food and Wine Magazine's 2001 Cookbook.

Foreground:  meatballs.
Background:  Inspirational material.

1 tbsp of olive oil
5 green onions, sliced finely
3 cloves of garlic, minced
about half a red pepper, diced        (you could use yellow or red pepper, but can I say don't use green? Green peppers are gross.)
Half a jalapeno pepper, diced         (leave in the seeds and ribs if you like heat)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 pound of ground chicken, or turkey     (just your average package of ground meat is the size I used - I can't be bothered to go back to the package to check exactly how much meat it was, but let's say a pound? yeah?)
1 cup of cooked rice       (if you didn't have cooked rice, I say go ahead and use bread crumbs as you would in a normal, non-Albondigas style meatball. I cooked rice special for this - see above re 'nothing but time' - but I get that that might not be doable)
1 egg white
A good handful of chopped cilantro
2 canned chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, minced        (get a can of these puppies, you won't regret it - also, they keep for a long time in a good tupperware in the fridge once you've opened them)
Salt and pepper
1 can of corn        (the recipe called for 1/2 a cup, but I wish I had put more corn in, so use the whole can - and don't be like me - I have some weird love for eating corn right out of the can and ate too much of it)
A handful of chopped tomatoes
4 cups of chicken stock
Lime wedges, for serving

I know this is a bowl of raw ground
chicken but I was kind of into this photo.

To make the meatballs, which you'll then simmer in the stock to cook, saute the green onions, garlic, red pepper, and jalapeno pepper over medium heat in the oil until they soften. About 5 minutes. Then add the ground cumin and coriander, and saute that in good, until you can really smell the spices, another minute or two. Let the mixture cool, then add it to a bowl with your ground chicken in it. Add in the cooked rice (or bread crumbs), the egg white, the cilantro, chipotles, and a good dose of salt and pepper. Mix it up well, and then form into small meatballs. Mine were mega-wet seeming, and I thought the whole thing was going to be a wash at one point. But I popped them in the fridge to firm 'em up, and that worked like a charm.  They stayed together brilliantly in the soup.

Once your m-balls are ready, bring your chicken stock to boil in a big soup pot. Add in the corn kernels and chopped tomato, simmer those for a few minutes, and then plop in the meatballs. Keep the heat at medium, and let it go for about ten minutes or so. Check a meatball if you're unsure of doneness, but it really doesn't take long. Serve in big bowls with a squirt of lime juice and some more chopped cilantro.

So on-theme with the limes, eh? You think this stuff just happens?
Also note how "brilliantly" the meatballs stayed together.

Long-Cooked Broccoli: aka Broccoli That Is The Opposite Of Raw

Raw broccoli is not an interest of mine. It tastes too much like what I imagine an actual plant or fern would taste - and yes I know how ridiculous that sounds given that it is of course a plant itself, but it tastes too grassy and woody and just plain raw when it's uncooked for me to ever want to eat it in that state.

This will become "luscious, unctuous"...yeesh.

I love it steamed, though, and especially roasted...and now, now my friends, I have found the best possible broccoli recipe EVER. You will balk at how long you cook the broccoli for - about two hours! - but I swear, it transforms this familiar vegetable into the most luscious, unctuous dish ever. It's not at all reminiscent of the gross, over-boiled vegetable that you may know from childhood. It is AWESOME. You blanch it briefly in boiling water, then you saute it on low, with some garlic, chilies, and anchovy paste...add a heavy hand with the olive oil and you will open the pot after a seemingly stupid long time elapses and you will find heaven. I'm not even exaggerating. I seriously loved this so much. Also, don't be hating on anchovy paste. It doesn't taste fishy, for reals. It just adds depth and a kind of earthiness, or something, to the dish, and it's absolutely crucial. Trust.

Long-Cooked Broccoli
adapted from Food52:  http://food52.com/blog/2860_roy_finamores_broccoli_cooked_forever

1 big head of broccoli, florets cut into fairly large chunks, and stalks cut into 1/2 inch coins  (broccoli stalks always hit the trash too fast, and they're perfectly delicious - I chop off the very end, and then peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler - then slice away)
3 big cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
3 small red or green chilies, halved vertically      (for this recipe, you want the thin, long-ish chilies, often called thai chilies) 
anchovy paste, about half of a 56 gram tube      (I checked the tube, it's actually 56 grams)
olive oil, about a quarter cup
salt and pepper

Broccoli, I never knew what you were capable of.

So, set a bit pot of water to boil. Once it's boiling, (carefully) plop in your stalks and florets, and leave them to boil for 5 minutes. Drain them off. Once the broccoli has gone into the water, heat up the olive oil over medium heat in the biggest frying pan you have (that has a lid - if not just use a plate. Man, I am FULL of good ideas). Add in your sliced garlic. Once the garlic starts to sizzle in the oil, add the chilies and the anchovy paste. Let it all sizzle together for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to low. Once you remove the broccoli from the boiling water, put it into the pan with the garlic, chilies and anchovy paste.  Give it a good stir, and cover the pan. Let it do its thing, on low, for about an hour and half. No joke. Stir it maybe three or four times throughout, and taste for salt and pepper and add if you think it needs it. Anchovy paste is pretty salty, so watch out for that. The dish will come out at the other end as a rich, luscious, unctuous (ah, just kidding, I have other words!) mushy-but-in-the-best-way broccoli.  

It's long-cooked broccoli on pasta, but from a dream!

I served this whole green mess on penne rigate. It's ridged penne, okay? I also grated some parmesan over top at the end, just to gild the lily, as I am wont to do. You will honestly have a deeper respect for what broccoli is capable of after you make this. Not to mention what a low heat bath in garlic, anchovy, and chilies can do for a vegetable you thought you knew.