This recipe is for Mexican meatball soup. It’s another treasure from Doña Elba, my future mother-in-law and an excellent cook (so is my mom, in fact! Paco and I are a lucky pair). I should confess that I haven’t actually prepared the recipe myself, but Paco made it last week and it turned out great. For the extra-squeamish or those who can’t obtain a soup bone, I think some beef bouillon cubes would probably do the trick. Just remember to adjust the salt.
Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 pound of ground beef
1 tomato, finely chopped.
1/2 of a small onion or 1/3 of a large onion, finely chopped.
1 large garlic clove, minced.
2 stems of fresh mint, chopped.
1 egg, beaten.
Salt to taste.
For the soup:
1 large soup bone (from a former cow). The butcher should give this to you for free.
3 potatoes, chopped.
2 carrots, chopped.
2 chayotes, chopped. (You could substitute zucchini, summer squash, or potato).
1 ear of corn, cut into several pieces.
1 tomato, chopped.
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped.
Salt and pepper, to taste.
2 stems of fresh mint.
Preparation:
First, to make the meatballs, mix the ground beef, tomato, onion, garlic, mint, salt and egg together until combined. Form 1-1 1/2 in. diameter meatballs with your hands. Set aside.
In a large soup pot, add the bone and enough water for your broth (maybe two quarts? I am not good at estimating quantities, but remember that you can add more water if you didn’t add enough at the beginning). When the water comes to a boil, add the vegetables and meatballs. Let the soup cook for about an hour, or until the vegetables are tender. In the last five minutes, add the two stems of mint.
Salt and pepper to taste, remove the bone, and serve.
