Albondigas con Salsa Pimienta Dulce -Meatballs with a Sweet Pepper Sauce

Beach Blanket Bistro has been invited to have a book signing and tasting at Solera Wines, in Alton, Illinois on May 2nd. While this is exciting in its own right, Solera is also hosting a wine tasting from Quinta de Vale de Pios. This combination has given me a chance to pair some of our existing recipes from the Beach Blanket Bistro Cookbook with wines and it has inspired me to create some new recipes. This is one of those new recipes.

I decided to work from the idea of the Spanish albondigas or meatballs. Variations of these meatballs have been one of my favorite items on the menus of many tapas bars. (That is tapas, not topless, although I have heard of a few topless bars having decent menus.)

The sweet pepper sauce used here is also used in in our upcoming book, Beach Blanket Brunch.

Enjoy. Buen Provecho.

Albondigas-Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground veal

2 large slices of country style bread

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of chopped Italian parsley

4 tablespoons of chopped shallots

2 teaspoons of salt

3 tablespoons of all purpose flour

4 tablespoons of olive oil

Albondigas-Preparation

Combine the ground beef, veal, parsley and shallots in a food processor. Beat the eggs. Tear the bread into small pieces and soak in the eggs. While the processor is running add the bread-egg mixture and the salt to the meat mixture.

Once the bread is evenly incorporated into the meat mixture. Move it into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and form into 1 to 2 inch ball. Lightly dust the meatballs and fry in the olive oil at medium heat.

The meat balls can be placed on a cookie sheet and kept warm in the oven while preparing the sauce.

Salsa Pimienta Dulce-Ingredients

12 small sweet peppers, I prefer a variety of red yellow and orange.

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 large shallot, diced

2 slices of country style bread

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 1/4 cups of beef broth

1/4 cup dry vermouth

Salsa Pimienta Dulce-Preparation

Stem and seed the peppers. Slice them into large pieces. Heat the olive oil to low medium. Add the peppers, garlic and shallots. Maintaining a lower temperature, heat the peppers, garlic and shallot until the are starting to soften. Add the vermouth and increase the heat. After 2 to 3 minutes add the broth. Bring it back to a low simmer. Tear the bread into small pieces and stir the pieces into the mixture.

Remove the pan from the hear and pour the mixture into a blender. Puree until smooth.

Serve over the meatballs.