Making Meatballs (Latin Style)!

Everyone in the food world and beyond by now knows that the meatball has definitively taken the trend helm as the new cupcake.

These proverbial home-style beef orbs have for some mysterious reason bounced back, and for this post-millennial iteration of “the balls,” anything goes. Perhaps because of their comfort factor, inherent tastiness and their versatility, the meatball has come back with the same unexpected gusto and force of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction—and clearly adored just as much.

What was once considered a suitable, hassle-free option to dollop over a pile of plain spaghetti is today among the latest in foodie phenomena, pouring out of kiosks, food trucks and restaurants in all varieties, flavors and styles.

Everywhere you look chefs are coming up with new ways to enhance these palatable meat nuggets, with flavor profiles that pay homage to India, Italy, Thailand and beyond.

With that, we present to you the Latin Meatball.

Read Related: Entertaining: Perfect for Super Bowl Munching—Meatballs

 MEXICAN MEATBALLS
Makes: 2 dozen 1½-inch meatballs

Ingredients
2 TBSP olive oil
1 dried ancho chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 dried guajillo chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced
¼ cup tequila
Juice from 1 lime
2 lb ground pork
1 ½ cups cooked long-grain white rice
2 large eggs
ó cup bread crumbs
3 soft corn tortillas, minced
1 small onion, finely diced
½ bunch fresh cilantro, chopped (including stems)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TSP crushed red pepper flakes
1 TSP salt
½ TSP ground cumin
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Drizzle olive oil into 9 × 13-inch baking dish and coat evenly. Set aside.
2. Combine ancho chile, guajillo chile, tequila, and lime juice in small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Combine chile mixture with ground pork, rice, eggs, bread crumbs, tortillas, onions, cilantro, tomato paste, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, cumin, andcinnamon in large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
4. Roll mixture into round, golf ball–size meatballs (about 1 ½ inches), making sure to pack meat firmly. Place balls in prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form grid. Meatballs should be touching one another.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. Meat thermometer inserted into center of a meatball should read 165°F. Allow meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in baking dish before serving.

“THE SPANIARD” MEATBALLS
Makes: about 2 dozen 1½-inch meatballs

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground pork
½ lb dry Spanish chorizo, finely diced
½ lb Manchego cheese, finely diced
3 cups cooked long-grain white rice
2 large eggs
½ cup bread crumbs
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TSP crushed red pepper flakes
1 TSP salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Drizzle olive oil into a 9 × 13 inch baking dish and spread evenly.  Set aside
2. Combine ground pork, chorizo, Manchego, rice, eggs, bread crumbs, tomato paste, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt in large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Roll mixture into round, golf ball–size meatballs (about 1-inch), making sure to pack meat firmly. Place balls in prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form grid. Meatballs should be touching one another. Bake for 20 minutes, or until meatballs are firm and cooked through. Meat thermometer inserted into center of meatball should read 165°F. Allow meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in baking dish before serving.

These two recipes were originally published in The Meatball Cookbook by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow (Random House) and is available for purchase here.