Name: Meatball Soup (Sopa de Albóndigas)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef or lamb; 1 large slice rustic bread, crusts removed, soaked in water, and squeezed dry; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; ¼ cup grated onion (optional); Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional); 6 to 7 cups water or meat stock; Vegetable oil; 4 boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into batons each about ¼ inch wide and thick and 1½ inches long; 3 carrots, peeled and cut into batons each about ¼ inch wide and thick and 1½ inches long; ½ cup finely chopped celery leaves

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Sephardic Flavors

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2000

About

While I found this recipe in Sefarad Yemekleri, a cookbook compiled by the Jewish community in Istanbul, the word albóndiga, which comes from the Arabic word for “round, ” is actually Spanish for “meatball.” In this version of the soup, the meatballs are cooked directly in the stock rather than being browned first. The optional onion and cinnamon give the meatballs a nice flavor boost.