Albóndigas delicadas -- Delicate meatballs, a Pinedo recipe

Today my attention was attracted to this Pinedo recipe on page 5.  The idea of a "delicate" meatball appealed to me, and I wondered if I could achieve that delicate goal.  I wasn't sure it meant that the flavor or the texture was delicate, or both, but I wanted to try it.

My Translation

Delicate meatballs.

         Raw poultry breasts are cut into small pieces; bring them to a boil and then grind or mince until they are reduced to a paste.

         Take a good amount of white breadcrumbs that will be boiled in broth, set aside and let cool, put in the mortar and grind with the poultry breasts, adding pepper, salt, nutmeg, a piece of butter the size of an egg, parsley and green onions very finely chopped, two shallots and some cooked egg yolks.

         All this is stirred well, and with it they are formed into meatballs by hand, immediately tossing them into the broth to cook them.

My Redaction

1 3/4 lbs raw chicken breast, boneless and skinless

1 cup breadcrumbs made from a French bread loaf that was a few days dried (not rock hard)

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter

1/8 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup green onion (white and green parts), finely chopped

1/4 cup shallot, finely chopped

4 cooked egg yolks, mashed

Heat 3 - 4 inches of water in a large kettle or Dutch oven to boiling.

Cut the chicken meat into chunks that will conveniently fit into the feed tube of a meat grinder.

When the water is boiling, put the chicken meat into the water.  Stir occasionally.  When the water returns to a boil, remove the meat, draining it as it is removed.  Keep the resulting broth in the kettle and maintain the heat beneath it.

Add 3/4 cup of the broth into the bread crumbs, and stir until all the crumbs are moistened.  Set aside.

Put the meat through a meat grinder using the fine plate.

Add the moistened bread crumbs to the ground meat and mix well.  

Add the pepper, salt, nutmeg, butter, parsley, green onion, shallot, and egg yolks.  Stir until everything is well-mixed.  The mixture should form a cohesive ball, like a soft dough.  Not soggy but not dry, and it should stick to itself.

Bring the broth back up to a boil.  Reduce heat to create a strong simmer.  Form balls with a 1- to 1 1/2-inch diameter.  

Drop the balls in batches of 5 to 10 into the broth.  When the balls float, remove and drain them; place in the serving dish.

My Notes

The method of putting the chicken chunks into hot water resulted in a broth and also the chicken was cooked all the way through.  I saw no pink meat at all.

Before

After

I tried to envision boiling the breadcrumbs in the broth and then taking them out, and it just seemed that I would lose more into the broth even if I used a fine sieve to get them out.  So I chose to just add the hot broth the crumbs and skip the mess.

Moistened, not soggy

Miss Pinedo might have had access to a food grinder, but her instructions seemed to indicate the cook would be using a mortar and pestle, or perhaps a mano and metate.  I took advantage of my modern technology to grind the meat to a paste.  The fine plate did a good job.  

Finely ground chicken breast

I chose to mix the crumbs and meat with my hand; this was because the meat was so finely ground already.  It didn't need more grinding with the bread.  I both scooped and squished the two ingredients together until it felt like they were uniformly blended.  I think you should be willing to add a little broth if the mixture does not behave well.

Bread and meat

My main concern was following the instructions for specific amounts of butter and shallots without having an idea of how much breast meat Pinedo thought should be used.  Once I chose the two large pieces of meat, I decided to use less of each with the hope of making the mixture balanced in flavor.

Very finely chopped!

Once all the ingredients were put with the meat mixture, I mixed it all by hand, again working it until everything seemed uniformly mixed.  I tasted it and I liked the balance of salt, pepper, onions, parsley, and shallots.  

Notice the moisture level.

The mixture was moist enough to stick together when I pushed it with my hand.  When I formed the balls, I made sure I pushed the mixture together to get rid of cracks or holes.

Ready for cooking

I cooked two meatballs alone first to make sure they would stay as balls when in the hot water.  They did, and it only took a minute or two for them to rise to the surface.  After that, I put in more balls to cook at once.  As one batch cooked, I made another batch.  The broth was hot-to-simmering, but not actively boiling because I was afraid that would break up the meatballs.

Floaties!

The Verdict

I served the meatballs in a dish with no sauce or anything else on them.  I included a side dish of rotini pasta coated with a ramps pesto and mixed with the chopped egg whites left over from the yolks used in the meatball mixture.  Thank you to @blackforager on Instagram for the ramps pesto inspiration!

I think they swelled some upon cooking.

So, were the meatballs delicate?  

Yes, they were very soft, but not so soft that they fell apart.  I guess the better word was tender.  The meat and other ingredients stuck to themselves well until the fork pushed against them, then the balls broke up easily.  The meatballs were very tender to bite.  They had a fine texture and were very moist inside.

Yes, in flavor, they were also delicate.  By that I mean the flavor was not robust, but we could taste the pepper and the onions/parsley/shallot flavorings.  The salt level was right.  I could not discern the nutmeg; it wouldn't hurt to add more.  Or, now that I think about it, sprinkle some nutmeg over the tops of the balls just before serving!  That would be a nice garnish.

My guest taster and I both felt the flavors were balanced, with just enough pepper to make it interesting and to add a little bitter to the onions and shallot, which were cooked enough to remove any bite but still leave a good flavor.

Success!  They didn't need any sauce and they stood up for themselves as a main dish.  They paired nicely with the pasta side dish.  Together they formed a very tasty meal.

I think using chicken breast helped to make it delicate in flavor.  I typically do not use breast meat because thigh meat is moister and has more flavor.  But this was, I think, the right choice.