Kris : I thought Van Dieman’s Jacobs Ladder would be the perfect beer for this recipe.Tomatoes and the forward malt character in English style Amber Ales work really well together.
Kris: Albondigas, are a classic spanish tapas dish. I decided to add a beery edge to this recipe, by creating Ale-bondigas!!!!
It also contains three of my favourite ingredients to cook with: beer, saffron and smoked paprika.
Caroline: Three of my favorite ingredients too!
Ale – Bondigas
500 g organic minced beef or lamb
100g almond meal
1 large brown onion
1 egg yolk
30 g butter
olive oil
2 cloves garlic (peeled and crushed)
1 jar passata
1 Tbs smoked paprika
1 tsb ground coriander seed
saffron
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
150ml Amber Ale
1 red chilli
salt and pepper
Grate half the onion into a bowl
Add mince, almond meal and egg
Combine and season with salt and pepper
Make small balls out of the mixture
Brown meatballs in some olive oil on all sides on medium heat
Remove from the pan and place on paper towel
Add butter and a little more olive oil
Add the other half of onion(sliced) and fry until transparent
Add paprika, garlic, finely diced chilli and coriander seed
Fry for a few minutes
Add beer to the pan and continue to simmer for a few minutes
Add a few strands of saffron to a Tbs of boiling water in a small bowl(see above). This helps to extract the flavour from the saffron. A little goes a long way.
Add saffron water and the tomato passata
Let this simmer for a few minutes
Season with salt and pepper to taste
Add the meatballs and continue turning them so that they heat through and soak up some of the sauce.
After 5 minutes they are ready to eat
Serve with fresh, crusty bread
Kris: The amber ale added a depth of flavour to the sauce and a little bit of sweetness. The malt in the beer matched really well with the tomatoes in the sauce and took a bit of an edge off the chilli. Overall I think it was a success.
Caroline : I really enjoyed this dish. It was exactly the lunch time snack I was after. I love Amber Ales and the beer matched perfectly with the Ale-bondig’as!