Spanishish Albondigas Chilindron with Creamy Polenta: An Excuse to Write "Balls" a Lot

A word on the title: this recipe is loosely based on 3 different things that I do on occasion that happened to coincide in one dish tonight. The sauce is a smooth red pepper sauce that usually goes with my Spanish Chicken Chilindron dish and the meatballs are a combination of my homemade Italian sausage recipe and my Albondigas. The polenta was something I had thrown together the day before with some hake (a word of advice: don't try hake - it's dry, fishy and unpleasant) but which I thought might be pretty underneath my meatballs. The end product was like if Spanish food and Italian food got really drunk one night and had a really pretty little bastard. This meal is that bastard.

Fun fact: Spanish words that begin with "Al" almost always have Arabic roots since "al" is the Arabic definite article "the." The dish traces back to a nifty little 12th century source called Kitab al-Tabakh fi al-Maghreb wa al-Andalus, or The Book of Cooking In the Maghreb (Morocco) and Andalusia, meaning it's older than that, though it undoubtedly appeared in different forms than we now know them given the lack of tomato in the pre-Columbian Iberian Peninsula. It was probably more akin to the kofta in laban (yogurt sauce) that we have here in Lebanon. The name itself has roots in the word "al-bunduq," or hazelnuts, either in reference to the shape or size of the balls.

The tomato sauce that one typically finds these little gems bathing in nowadays had its roots in the American conquests, which provided us with the tomatoes, peppers and paprika that make this dish so pleasant.

A word on ingredients. The meatballs can either be beef or pork or a combination of the two. If I could get it, this would be pork all the way. I typically use imported Brazilian beef, which the Lebanese seem to regard as little more than minced Amazonian bush meat. It's not really that bad, but I'm happy to overpower the gaminess of the monkey flesh with spices. I'm probably joking about that. If you can find Spanish/Portuguese style chorizo to add to this, do it. It's delicious. If not, Some good smoky ham or bacon will do nicely.

A word of warning: this is a filthy, though not really time consuming process. You will ruin your kitchen. But it will be glorious.

The order of operations goes like this : 1. meatballs, 2. sauce while meatballs are cooking, 3. the baking, 4. polenta.

Meatball Ingredients:
1 pound of ground pork/beef/human/guinea pig/whatever
2 eggs
1/2 sleeve of Ritz style crackers crushed into tiny chunks
1 1/2 tbsp paprika
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup finely diced onion
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp fennel or anise seed
2 tbsp chopped cilantro (coriander)
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tsp salt
pepper

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 425 and then mix everything together in a big bowl. That's about it...

Step 2:
Lube up a big glass baking dish with a decent amount of olive oil then form and place the balls in the pan, whatever size you like really. Insert into oven for 20 minutes for big balls, 15 for smaller ones. Don't giggle! You should be ashamed of yourselves! What would your mother think?

Ingredients for the red pepper sauce:
4 tbsp olive oil
1 large red bell peppper or two regular sized ones
3 very red tomatoes (4 Romas)
1 large yellow onion
1/3 cup chopped Spanish/Portuguese chorizo, ham or bacon (cured, smoky pork is best)
5 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup water
1 tsp safflower
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp coriander/cilantro chopped (don't add this or the parsley until the end)
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
salt

Step 1:
Chop up the vegetables - place the peppers and onions together in one bowl, the tomatoes and garlic in another.

Step 2:
Heat the olive oil in a pot on medium and add in the onions and peppers, allowing to soften until clear, then toss in the tomatoes and garlic and cover the pot. Lower the heat, then add in the water, paprika, safflower, bay leaves, sugar and salt, cover again and cook for about 10 minutes.

Step 3:
Mix in the lemon juice and the chopped herbs, let cool for 5 minutes, then fish out the 3 bay leaves and set aside for later. I cannot stress enough how gross it is to accidentally blend up bay leaves.

Step 4:
Hit the ingredients with the blender until smooth, then add in the bay leaves and chorizo and keep aside until the meatballs are done.

Step 5:
When meatballs are finished, remove from the oven, and pour over with the sauce, making sure the bottom of the pan is covered. Lower the heat to 350 and reinsert into the oven for another 20 minutes.

Polenta Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup finely ground corn meal
4 cups water
1/2 cup cream
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup honey
salt

Step 1:
Heat your water to a boil, then whisk in the corn meal. Mine soaked up the water in about 10 seconds, which was terrifying. Results may vary, so keep an eye on things. When the polenta is of a relatively smooth consistency (like very wet mashed potatoes), pull it from the heat and add the butter, cream, honey and salt. It should be moist but not runny, sweet but slightly savory. A tiny squeeze of lemon juice is actually quite nice.

Serve the meatballs on top of a polenta puddle with a good dose of the sauce, which you can drip over the plate for the visual effect and general tastiness. A sprig of cilantro is a nice touch if it's a date, as it's also functional.