Apolinaras and I enjoyed a fun Spanish themed dinner party last week. Elina hosted and made fideos with ham, shrimp, and clams, which was just delicious, and Shannon covered dessert and brought cupcakes filled with dulce de leche and topped with almond cream cheese frosting! I decided to whip up a couple of tapas.
The first was spicy Spanish potatoes. Meghan very kindly typed out the recipe for me from one of her cookbooks when I told her they were one of my very favorite tapas, ummm, only about 2 years ago! I tend to collect more recipes than I actually have time to make, but I’m glad I finally found the perfect occasion to make these potatoes because they really hit the spot.
My second contribution was these manchego stuffed Spanish meatballs. I mixed organic ground beef and pork with sweet paprika, panko, egg, and garlic, and stuffed each meatball with a small chunk of Spanich manchego cheese. Then I topped them with a diced tomato sauce that also had roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and sherry vinegar in the mix. Yum, what a fun little party appetizer!
Manchego Stuffed Spanish Meatballs
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
Sauce:
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Meatballs:
1 pound ground sirloin (93% fat free)
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
3/4 cup panko
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces machengo cheese, cut into 40 small chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:
To make the sauce, place diced tomatoes, chicken broth, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, sherry vinegar, and salt in a food processor and pulse for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.
To make the meatballs, place ground sirloin, ground pork, egg, panko, garlic, paprika, and salt in a large bowl and knead with your hands until well mixed. Shape into 40 meatballs and put one piece of cheese in the middle of each one, making sure to seal the cheese in well. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet and cook until browned on all sides, working in batches as needed. Add the pureed sauce mixture to pan, along with all the meatballs, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Remove meatballs from the pan and simmer sauce an additional 5 to 10 minutes, to thicken, if needed. To serve, spoon sauce over meatballs. Makes 20 servings of 2 meatballs each.
Nutrition: 152 calories, 10.3g fat, 0.6g fiber, 11.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.05 per serving
I love the Spanish spices in the meatballs and stuffing it with cheese sounds awesome!
these were delicious, and would make a killer meatball sub, too 😉
Those sound so good. The Spanish-themed dinner party must have been so much fun. I recently tried fideos — soo good!
These look amazing! I’m really bummed out that I don’t have all the ingredients in the house right now!
Sounds like a fun party – and these meatballs must have been a highlight! I love manchego.
This all sounds so fantastic. Um, don’t forget to invite me next time, k? 😉
sounds like you guys had a fun party – loving the theme and the looks of those meatballs!!
Manchego is one of my favorite cheeses. This is mouth watering!
Perfect meatball, and I think I’d like the manchego better then mozarella. It’s tastier, in my opinion.
I both hate and love it when I go back in my recipe folder and find recipes I’ve had for YEARS that are just so good! And then I have to hit myself and ask why I didn’t make them before! These sound super tasty!
They look so good!
What a great surprise when you bite into these meatballs!
Wow…just wow. Nothing more to say about those! Other than, I want one! Love manchego!
Oh my gosh…I didn’t think meatballs could get any more delicious, but by stuffing cheese inside you achieved that! These look great!
Yum, what a fun evening, the food sounds so good!
I love cheese in a meatball. Goat cheese has generally been my cheese of choice, but manchego sounds like a fantastic option as well.
Manchego?! Nice!! The dulce de leche cupcakes that are topped with almond cream cheese frosting sound amazing too. I wish I could have been there!
all meatballs should be stuffed with cheese, and that’s that.
Awesome meatballs, i like the paprika and the melting manchego inside, nice!
OMG manchego-stuffed meatballs?? I’ve stuffed meatballs with many different cheeses and there’s nothing better! I definitely need to try manchego. Sounds like a fantastic party idea!
what a feast you two girls had.
how do you two stay so thin?
ohhh right you both run 500 miles a day.
😉
Oh my gosh! I totally forgot that I sent you that recipe!!! I hope they were good!!! Love this idea for a Spanish meatball!! They look delicious. Hope you are doing well! I’m so behind on commenting but I’m still reading (on my phone mostly!)
[…] party time! Shannon, Elina, and I decided to follow up our Spanish tapas party with a spring themed feast. Shannon rocked the appetizer course with a radish and polenta […]