Meatballs - My Recipe Rotation - Albondigas

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I hope you appreciate whimsy. The origin of a Spanish tapa, a small snack that is served with drinks, is not really known. Legend has it that illness forced 13th century Castilian king Alfonso X - also known as Alfonso the Wise - to eat small snacks with the wine that had doctors had ordered to maintain his strength. After he recovered from the illness causing his weakness, he decreed that taverns serve food with beer or wine to keep the spirits from going too quickly to patrons heads. A more practical explanation is the use of a saucer or lid to keep dust or insects out of drink glasses. "Tapa" literally means lid and the first lid was probably a slab of bread or cheese placed over the glass in which wine or beer was served. A tapa can be anything from a potato fritter to a small portion of skewered meat, the only requirement is that it must be a small dish of something edible that is served with a drink. Tapa (one snack) or tapas (two or more snacks) should not be thought of as an appetizer or meal starter. If you start eating tapas, you do not stop until you are full. While many tapas can be served as a main course, the tapas portion is about 1/4 the size of an entree and it usually requires several of them to assuage hunger. Tapas are served in bars, not restaurants, and tapas bars are extremely popular in Spain. As family size has decreased, so, too, has the size of most Spanish homes, and space limitations have made it easier to socialize and entertain outside the home. Despite problems with the economy, the tapas culture in Spain is still vibrant and thriving. Albondigas appear on many tapas menus. You'll find these meatballs are a bit softer than their Italian cousins, but they are really good and the cinnamon scented sauce in which they braise is downright delicious. They have the added advantage of being relatively inexpensive and easy to make and I know you and your crew will love them. Here is how they are made.

Chinese Steamed Pearl Balls - Zhenzhu Qiu

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Most lovers of Chinese food call these dumplings pearl balls. My family, and the analysts I worked with prior to retirement, call them Chinese porcupines. Louie, a mentally challenged dishwasher, gave them their name. In addition to his work in the kitchen, Louie delivered mid-night snacks and breakfast to the computer room when it was in crisis mode. Our systems were responsible for the capture, processing and transfer of data for an Asian multinational and we often worked late nights that occasionally bled into the morning. Most of the off-hour food prepared in the kitchen was Chinese or Japanese, and Louie, who was inordinately fond of pearl balls, always included them in the selection he brought for us to eat to us. Louie was a corporate fixture and he shared a history with a company director that went back to World War II. Wherever John went, Louie went. John's early career was as a lawyer and he was the JAG assigned to represented Louie at his court martial for desertion. Louie, despite a completely normal appearance, was intellectually slow. That didn't prevent this simple soul from being drafted. He had a hard time in basic training where he was taunted and bullied, and one day, not understanding the concept of AWOL, he walked off base. Here is where corporate legend takes over. Louie, with help from a stranger, dropped his dog tags in an envelop with a note that said "I quit" and mailed them to President Roosevelt. He was, of course, arrested. It took the JAG corp a while to straighten out the mess, but Louie was finally released from prison and John became his benefactor. Louie, with John's help, eventually found his way to a Japanese kitchen where he became an honorary member of the computer team he looked after and ate with. Louie died several years before I retired. An employee collection effort and corporate matching funds saw that he was properly buried with a service, a headstone and friends who came to celebrate his life and say a last goodbye. I'll always associate pearl balls with Louie and John - his champion. These are really good. Children love them. I think you'll enjoy them, too. Here is how they are made.