Mexican Meatballs With Red Chile Tomato Sauce And Queso Fresco Recipes

Steps:

• For meatballs:
• Combine bread, milk, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, and pepper in large bowl. Mash with fork until thick paste forms. Mix in beef, pork, tomatoes, eggs, and mint (mixture will be soft). Using 1/4 cupful for each, form mixture into 2-inch balls. Place on baking sheet; chill while making sauce.
• For sauce:
• Line heavy small skillet with foil; add chiles and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until skins begin to blister and blacken, turning frequently, about 15 minutes. Cool garlic slightly, then peel. Working in batches, puree tomatoes with juices, whole chiles, and garlic in blender until almost smooth. (Meatballs and puree can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Keep meatballs refrigerated. Cover and refrigerate puree.)
• Heat oil in heavy large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add tomato puree, 1 cup water, and salt; bring to boil. Carefully add meatballs; bring to simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Uncover and boil gently until liquid is reduced to sauce consistency, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.
• Spoon Mexican White Rice into 6 shallow bowls. Top rice with meatballs and tomato-serrano sauce and serve.

Steps:

• Make tomato sauce:
• Preheat broiler.
• Broil tomatoes and chiles in a foil-lined small shallow baking pan 2 to 3 inches from heat, turning frequently, until lightly charred on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes for chiles, 12 to 15 minutes for tomatoes (flesh should be soft). Alternatively, char vegetables in a hot well-seasoned griddle or cast-iron skillet over moderate heat.
• Core tomatoes and stem chiles, then purée with onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste, in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot ingredients).
• Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until just hot. Stir 1/2 cup tomato sauce into oil (this reduces spattering), then, when bubbling vigorously, add remaining sauce.
• Fry, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and salt to taste.
• Prepare memelas:
• Stir together masa harina, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and water in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough. Knead in bowl with heel of hand 1 to 2 minutes.
• Divide dough into 16 pieces and roll each into a 1 1/2-inch ball.
• Roll balls into 3-inch-long logs. Transfer logs as formed to a plastic-wrap-lined tray and cover with more plastic wrap.
• Heat a well-seasoned large cast-iron griddle or skillet over moderately high heat until hot.
• Cut 2 (5-inch) squares from a small plastic bag and use 1 to line lower half of tortilla press. Put a log of dough in press and top with second square of plastic. Close press, pushing gently on lever to flatten dough to a 4- by 3- by 3 1/2-inch oval. If press doesn't flatten evenly, rotate tortilla 180 degrees and gently flatten again. (Alternatively, use a rolling pin to flatten dough between squares of plastic.)
• Remove plastic and cook oval on hot griddle until a skin forms and some small golden spots appear, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Make more ovals, cooking 3 or 4 at a time.
• Remove memelas from heat and, when cool enough to handle, form sides: Beginning 1/2 inch from edge of each memela and working all around it, push undercooked masa toward edge with your thumb and pinch up to form a 1/4-inch side. Then pinch up masa in center of memela in several places. If dough still seems very raw, cook memelas upside down on hot griddle 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons cheese on each memela and top with 1 to 2 tablespoons tomato sauce. Heat filled memelas, 4 at a time, on hot griddle until bubbling, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Steps:

• For the meatballs, combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl, mix with hands. Refrigerate and cover for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile for the sauce, if using fresh tomatoes, place on a cooking sheet and broil, turning once or twice until the skins bister and blacken, about 10 minutes. Peel the skin off tomatoes and place the peeled (or canned tomatoes) in to a blender or food processor.
• Put the garlic and onion into a hot, dry skillet and cook, turning occasionally, over medium heat, until the garlic is lightly browned and the onion is lightly scorched,.
• Add to the blender along with 1/2 cup broth, chipotles to taste (start with 1), cinnamon, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, Taste, and add more chipotles if desired.
• Heat oil in a large , heavy and deep skillet over medium heat until quite hot but not smoking. Add the tomato mixture and "fry" until it thikckens (it will splatter), about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the remaning 2 cups broth and heat to a boil. Stir in mint. Taste again, adjust salt and pepper, and add some adobo from the canned chilies if not spicy enough.
• Shape the meat mixture into meatballs (about 1 inch diameter), the mixture should make 60 meatballs. Add the meatballs to the sauce, Shake the pan once or twice in the first 5 minutes of cooking to prevent sticking. Simmer slowly until the meatballs are done, about 30 minutes.