I have a few go-to recipes when I want to serve people a tapas-like plate or if I need to bring a dish to a party. These are the albóndigas of Andalusia. Albóndigas, the Spanish word for "meatball," derives from the Arabic al-bunduq, "hazelnut," meant to evoke their form and size. The making of albóndigas date at least back to Islamic Spain, for there are several recipes in the anonymous thirteenth-century Hispano-Muslim cookery book Kitāb al-tabīkh fī Maghrib wa'al-Āndalus. In fact, the method of frying and then poaching in the making of Albóndigas a la Andaluza, or poaching and then roasting, as found in other recipes in A MEDITERRANEAN FEAST, I believe is an Arab culinary influence because we find it employed not only in medieval Arabic texts but also in today's kitchen. There's a recipe for you here.
[Photo: Clifford A. Wright]
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