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