I return to the places I have loved in my life by way of my kitchen.  My roommate in college, Sonia, was from Argentina, and she and I became steadfast friends, traveling different parts of the world as our budgets allowed, and adopting each other’s families as our own.   When Bob and I traveled there after Saoirse was born, we stayed with Sonia’s mom and dad.  One searingly hot day, she woke early and prepared these albondigas, before the heat of the day settled in.  At lunch we ate them cold, and fell in love.  I brought the recipe home with me, but stopped preparing it once we had to stop eating gluten…Until now.  I’ve finally figured out how to recreate the recipe without using flour.

Albondiga is simply Spanish for “meatball.”  But these are unlike any meatball I’ve ever known.  They are a combination of ground beef and leftover mashed potatoes, seasoned simply with garlic and parsley, then rolled in flour and deep fried in lard.  I think of them more as a meat fritter.  We eat them hot or cold using only our fingers…There is too much sensual pleasure in handling these little treats to relegate them to knives and forks.

 

Serves 4

1 pound ground beef

8 ounces leftover mashed potatoes

1 egg

1 tablespoon dried parsley

2-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup potato flour

8 ounces lard, plus more if needed

 

Add the beef, mashed potatoes, egg, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper to a large bowl.  Using your hands, mix until thoroughly combined.  Form into six 4 ounce patties, roughly 1 1/2 inches thick, with a shallow quarter-sized impression in one side (this will prevent them from puffing out into balls when you fry them).

Heat the lard over medium heat in a small cast iron skillet.  It should come half way up the side of the pan (I use a smaller skillet so that I can use less lard, since it needs to be deep to adequately cook the albondigas).  If your pan is larger than 8 inches in diameter, you’ll likely need to add extra lard.

Blend the almond and potato flour in a shallow bowl.  Coat each of the albondigas in the flour mixture.

Once the lard is gently bubbling, add two albondigas to the pan, making sure there is at least one inch of space around them.  Fry for six minutes on each side, until browned and no longer pink in the center.  Drain on paper towels and serve hot, room temperature, or cold.