Meatballed ground pork with chopped bacon, garlic, eggs, breadcrumbs and oregano, cooked with chipotle chili and tomato sauce.
A few years ago, a Rick Bayless recipe for chipotle meatballs appeared in the Wednesday section of the New York Times. Fortunately, we did not notice the recipe until a correction for it appeared in a later paper that included the 2nd edition cans of Chipotle peppers, the newspaper had published with the correct 2 chillies.
We made the meatballs and loved it, but we couldn’t help but be won over by the idea of eating them with five times as much chipotle!
You can even serve the meatballs with spaghetti for a Tex-Mex version. It’s quite spicy and is best accompanied with something cool like sour cream and thinly sliced lettuce.
Chipotle Meatballs
ingredients
Meatballs:
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2 slices baconchopped
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2 cloves garlicchopped
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2 big eggs
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1/2 Cup breadcrumbs
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1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
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1 1/2 lb mead
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2 teaspoon dried oregano or fresh mint, finely chopped
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1 to 2 teaspoon Chipotle powder (or a few teaspoons of adobo sauce)
Sauce:
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2 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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1 medium Onionchopped, approx 1 Cup
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3 cloves garlicchopped
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1 to 3 chipotle chile in adobo (can), finely chopped and sauce reserved
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1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (preferably roasted over fire)
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1 teaspoon dried oregano
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1/2 Cup beef or chicken broth
method
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Preheat oven to 400°F
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Mix ingredients for meatballs:
Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and use your clean hands to mix well for a minute or two. You want the mixture to be well integrated, but you don’t want to overwork it or the meatballs will become chewy.
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Shape and bake into patties:
Using wet hands or an ice cream scoop, scoop the meat into about 16 plum-sized balls and place in a 13″ x 9″ casserole dish or mini muffin tin, if available. Bake at 400°F until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
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Make the sauce:
While the meatballs are baking, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onions until just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add the chopped chipotle, canned tomatoes, oregano or mint, and beef broth. Mix well and season with salt. If you want more chipotle flavor, add the reserved chipotle sauce scoop by scoop, mixing and tasting between scoops. Let the sauce simmer, uncovered, while the meatballs cook.
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To serve, toss meatballs with sauce:
When the meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and toss to coat. If the sauce is too thin for your liking, continue to simmer for a few minutes. Otherwise serve with rice, tortillas or polenta. Garnish with coriander to serve.
Remarks:
The word “Chipotle” actually comes from the Nahuatl words child (chili pepper) and poctli (Smoke). (See Wikipedia.)
Links:
Diana Kennedy’s Chipotle Meatballs from The Wednesday Chef
Rick Bayless’ Chipotle Meatballs as written in The New York Times
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 393 | calories |
| 24g | Fat |
| 17g | carbohydrates |
| 28g | protein |
