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Pork & Orange Albondigas (Meatballs)

Published on 19 Nov 2011 |
1 Comments

As part of my review here of Market Chronicles, Montreal Gazette Susan Semenak’s farmer market cookbook, I  tested 3 recipes: the Pork and orange albondigas (page 214), the Pumpkin thai soup (page 162) and the Roasted cauliflower fusilli (page 158).

The verdict? Two recipes got a big, unanimous thumbs-up. The Portuguese meatballs were a huge hit. While they’re meant to act as an appetizer, I’m more family dinner than fancy party obsessed, so I actually served these… on pasta. On a week night. And it worked. The orange shines through quite distinctly, adding an unexpected flavour profile I hope you’ll enjoy.

 

Excerpted from:

    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes
    • Yield
    • 36
Pork and orange albondigas

Ingredients

  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) pine nuts
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • flour (for dusting)
  • 500 g (1 lb) ground pork
  • 250 g (1/2 lb) ground veal
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) breadcrumbs
  • zest of 1 orange, finely grated
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) ground fennel seeds
  • salt and fresh ground black pepper
  • *
  • Sauce:
  • 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 250 ml (1 cup) canned tomatoes, chopped
  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) orange juice
  • 1 short cinnamon stick

Instructions

  • 1. To make the meatballs, cook onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft. Add pine nuts and garlic, then cook until golden. Set aside to cool.
  • 2. Pour flour into a plate. In a bowl, combine onion mixture with all of the meatball ingredients, except oil. Roll into bite-size balls, dredging in flour as you go.
  • 3. Fry meatballs in batches in remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Don’t crowd your pan or they will boil instead of brown. Turn and brown all over, then transfer onto paper towels to drain.
  • 4. To make the sauce, sauté onion in olive oil until soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add meatballs and coat them in sauce to heat.

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