Because I can’t promote just one thing in a post, let’s do

#MeatlessMonday Vegan Pork Albondigas with Match Meat and Red Gold Tomato Sauce

Phew.  That’s a mouthful.  This post is like already like NASCAR car.  It’s just covered in ads.  Hrmm…let’s see how much worse I can make it.

Anyway, this is the promised second post in my Saturday Edition of #MeatlessMonday.  I’ve been doing a little catch up on the #MeatlessMonday tip since I missed  a few weeks.  So that’s why this is a #MeatlessMonday post.

Secondly, this is a recipe for albondigas, which is Spanish for “meatballs.”  But don’t be fooled.  Sure, there are some albondigas recipes which are pretty much like your average Italian meatball recipe or exceptional one’s at Jasper’s.  (By the way, he’s having a from snout to tail pork dinner Thursday.)  Others, though, use Latin ingredients like corn or jalapenos to give them a unique flavor.  I used this recipe as a basis for my albondigas from About.com because it stuffed them with rice.

Third, since I am trying to do this as a #MeatlessMonday, I figured I’d turn to Very Good Butchers since they are my favorite source of vegan meats and I also had a package of ground pork vegan Match Meat in my freezer.

Fourth, most of the recipes you find for albondigas are actually for albondigas soup, which is fine, and it’s how the About.com folks got away with using uncooked rice in the albondigas.  I, on the other hand, didn’t want a soup.  So I found this recipe from WhatsCooking.us for albondigas in ancho chile sauce.  And since the recipe called for diced tomatoes, I was more than happy to use the Red Gold tomatoes that I got in the tin I mentioned yesterday on BlogWellDone.com.

So in the end, I took the albondigas recipe and the sauce recipe and combined them together to make dinner.

(Oh, did I mention I went to the Farmhouse for lunch and guest posted on The Bobby Pin?  And congratulations to Chef Michael Smith for his James Beard nomination and to Chef Debbie Gold for being tapped for Top Chef Masters.)

Vegan Pork Albondigas Recipe with Red Gold Ancho Chili Sauce Recipe

Okay, enough silliness.  It’s recipe time.

You will need:

• 1 ancho chili
• 1 package Vegan Match Meat ground pork
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg’s worth egg replacer
• 1/2 onion
• 4 cups vegetable broth divided
• 1 cup Red Gold tomato
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon pepper

Bring a sauce pan of water to boil, add the dried ancho.  Kill the heat and let the ancho get soft.

Mix the Match meat, rice, 2 cloves of garlic, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and egg replacer in a bowl.  Mix with your hands and roll into 1 inch meatballs.

Pull the stem off the ancho and put it in a blender with the rest of the garlic, the onion, 1 cup of broth, and the Red Gold diced tomatoes.  Blend until smooth.

Put the mixture, the rest of the broth and salt, the oregano, the pepper into a skillet and soup pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add the meatballs, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 20 minutes or until the pork has reached the internal temperature you would like.

Serve with rice and guac on tortillas.  Enjoy!