Albondigas Vascas de Bizkaia

VIZCAYA MEATBALLS IN BASQUE GREEN WHITE WINE SAUCE ...

GOI MAILAKO ELIKAGAIAK located in Abadiño, Bizkaia ( Vizcaya ) is a food agricultural corporation which distributes only Basque products through out the rest of Iberia and other European countries.

ALBONDIGAS DE FALDA VASCA = BASQUE MEATBALLS ( GO TO MEAT SECTION; LOOK UP IBERIAN MEAT CUTS, AND LOOK FOR FALDA ... THIS IS THE CUT USED IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY FOR THIS RECIPE ) ...

700 grams of 100% ground beef
1 egg
1 glass of milk
1 tablesp. fresh parsley minced
Day old rustic country loaf of bread crumbs
salt to taste
Garlic minced to taste


THE SAUCE

2 small onions
1 glass of White wine
1 tablespoon of fresh minced parsley
salt to taste
EVOO ( Spanish extra virgin olive oil )

*** NOTE: sauce is a typical Green Basque sauce from the Vizcaya región; not from Asturias

*** THE COLOR OF THE SAUCE: Should be a Golden ocre Green ( not transparent cloudy Green )


1) in a large cristal bowl, combine the ground beef with the minced garlic, parsely minced, the beaten egg, the milk, the day old breadcrumbs - 1 large tablespoon, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

2) combine well ... and let sit 10 minutes.

3) Now, place the rest of the bread crumbs finely grated on a large platter and dust the meatballs you shall form, with the grated bread.

4) In a large skillet ( sauté pan ), drizzle some Evoo and on a low to medium flame, place the meatballs in the skillet   

5) Sauté until Golden Brown on each side

6) In a sauce pan, with 3 tblsps. of Evoo, sauté the onions, until tender, but do not Brown ( keep low slow flame ) ...

7) Then, in the sauce pan of the sauce, drizzle slowly the White wine ( a wine glass preferably northern Spain White ), and add 1 glass of wáter ...

8) Now add the parsely minced to the sauce

9) add some minced parsely to the meatballs

10) slow simmer 10 minutes more ( the meatballs ) and the saucepan with the sauce until a gravy consistency, with body ---

11) the sauce is serving as the bed, on the plate, the meatballs shall sit on top of the sauce

This is a renowned tapa in Bilbao, Bizkaia ...

I have never made them, however, a new friend, who owns a winery in the Basque Country and this Distributor had given me the récipe ... and some wines ...

Enjoy.
Margi

Tas,

Thank you ... I am going to prepare these on Saturday, as I have a new lady friend who is Basque, and she had given me a bottle of lovely red wine from her Boutique Winery in Rioja Alavesa; the red wine Basque province of ÁLAVA ... ( 15 minutes north of La Rioja ).

So, I invited a lady friend for lunch ...

The 2 keys mentioned were;

1) THE DUSTING OF THE MEATBALLS WITH THE FLOUR PRIOR TO SAUTÉING

2) THE SAUCE ... SLOW FLAME AND ALL GENTLY HANDLED

This should not be difficult and of course ingredient wise, very easy.

Thanks again.
Margi

Anne. This is a relatively simple recipe. The Basque Chefs are known for their sublime sauces. The have an ancient culinary tradition and possess more Michelin Stars than 3 Eurpean countries put together.

The other key; no high flames.

I am preparing for lunch Saturday. The original recipe recipe is in Euskera. The Basque Language.

Anne. Red for drinking ! White for recipe ! Lol !