NEW balls, please! Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? Come on Tim, enough already of the first-round final-set palpitations — go out to someone we’ve heard of. Andy Murray, for example — Perthshire Posh; he’s after your crown.
And speaking of balls — Albondigas, stress on the o: not, as you might think, a talented clay-court baseliner from Galicia out of his depth on Wimbledon grass, but our fourth tapas staple of the week.
In second-rate tapas restaurants in this country they serve these unctuous Spanish meatballs in a tomato sauce, but that’s a cop-out by a lazy kitchen. At a pinch, if you’re stuck, sautéed onion with white wine and good stock will suffice for a sauce. But for Andalucian authenticity you need some saffron and almonds. It’s the way Spaniards have been cooking this dish for generations. In fact . . . old balls, please.
ALBONDIGAS CON AZAFRAN Y ALMENDRAS
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30min
Serves 4
400g minced beef
400g minced pork
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 slices bread, no crust
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 large egg, beaten
Handful of parsley, finely chopped
A little freshly-grated nutmeg
Olive oil Flour
For the sauce
40 blanched almonds
250ml chicken stock
150ml white wine
100ml olive oil
½ tsp saffron
1 slice bread, roughly chopped
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
10 peppercorns
1 clove
Lemon juice
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METHOD
To make the meatballs, soak the first two slices of bread in some milk for a few minutes, then squeeze dry. Bung the bread in a bowl with everything else and mix it all together with your hands. Divide the mixture into 16 balls (if you require your balls to be perfectly spherical, which seems excessive to me, but there’s no accounting for taste, here’s a good trick; put one in a teacup, cover it with your hand and shake it around for a while — works a treat). Roll in flour (the meatballs, not you) and fry gently until browned.
For the sauce, fry the almonds, bread and garlic until golden, then tip them into a food processor with the peppercorns, saffron, clove and white wine, and blend to a smooth paste. Heat some more oil in a pan, pour in the mixture and the stock and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs, reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, chopped parsley and some toasted almonds.