SOPA RICE RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Prepare the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, rice, mint, garlic, salt and pepper. Using your hands, gently mix until well combined. Pinch off 2-ounce portions and gently roll between your palms to form golf ball-size rounds, transferring rounds to a sheet pan. (You should have about 28 meatballs.)
• In large pot, combine the olive oil, onion, carrots, celery and potato; season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaves, oregano and cumin, and cook over medium, stirring frequently, until fragrant and tomato paste starts to caramelize, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and tomato sauce and bring to a simmer over high.
• Once the stock begins to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low. Carefully add the meatballs, one by one, distributing them evenly in the pot until they’re all submerged. If necessary, reduce the heat to reach a low simmer (this will keep the meatballs tender), and cook until the meatballs and rice are cooked through, about 40 minutes. (Resist the urge to stir for the first 20 minutes, otherwise you risk breaking the meatballs apart before they’ve firmed up.) Skim any impurities from the surface as the soup simmers.
• Season to taste with salt. Divide the soup among bowls, about four or five meatballs per portion, and set out bowls of whatever garnishes you like.

Steps:

• Add the garlic, tomatoes, red-pepper flakes, cumin and salt to a blender, and blend until smooth. Set aside.
• Heat a medium pot over medium, then add the oil. Add the fideo to the hot oil and cook until toasted and aromatic, about 5 minutes. Be sure to constantly mix the fideo so it toasts evenly.
• Reduce the heat to low, then add the blended tomato mixture.
• Add 5 cups of water to the pot, along with the celery, carrot and bay leaf. Mix and taste for salt, adjusting if necessary.
• Increase to medium heat until simmering, then reduce to medium-low. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fideo is cooked through, the soup has melded together and the liquid has thickened.
• Remove the celery, carrot and bay leaf, and discard. Serve soup in bowls and top with any of your favorite sopa de fideo toppings.