How to make chorizo albondigas, queso fundido and more this fall

Halloween lovers have taken a significant hit the last few years, with fires and now COVID-19 encroaching on and canceling some of our favorite celebrations. There will be no festivities this year on McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa, and I suspect Florence Avenue in Sebastopol will not have the same crush of costumed kids as in years past.

I’ve always loved cooking for Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos and decorating the dinner table and dining room as elaborately and hauntingly as possible. I’ve had a long tradition of making big pots of pozole and inviting friends over to share it or schlepping it to a friend’s house.

Last year was different, quiet and somber in the wake of the Kinkade fire and its mass evacuation. Then on Nov. 1, the beloved chef and social warrior Evelyn Cheatham shuffled off this mortal coil. I made a couple of tacos and went to bed early.

If you have family and friends to feed on Halloween, you can find my pozole recipes by searching for pozole at “Eat This Now” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.

Another option is a traditional Mexican soup, sopa de albondigas, or meatball soup. I veer from tradition by making meatballs with chorizo, but you can make any type of meatball you like. You also can serve meatballs with another delicious Mexican dish, queso fundido.

Happy haunting. Let’s hope next year sees us out and about, in elaborate costumes instead of face masks.

Queso fundido, simply seasoned melted cheese enjoyed with hot corn tortillas or tortilla chips, is beyond delicious. If you serve this before a large meal, everyone will ruin their appetites by overindulging. A big green salad and maybe a delicate soup is all you need to accompany this dish.

Queso Fundido with Chorizo Meatballs

Serves 6 to 8

Chorizo Meatballs (recipe follows), hot

1½ pounds Monterey Jack cheese, grated on the large blade of a box grater

½ pound queso cotija or feta, crumbled

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 serranos, minced

1 teaspoon chipotle powder

3 poblanos, roasted, seeded and cut into thin strips

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 to 3 dozen small corn tortillas, hot

Make the Chorizo Meatballs and set them aside, covered to keep them warm.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

Put the cheeses, garlic, serranos and chipotle powder in an earthenware dish and use two forks to gently toss the ingredients together. Set on the middle rack of the oven and cook for about 12 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Open the oven, scatter the poblano strips over the cheese, set the meatballs on top and cook 5 minutes more.

Remove from the oven, set on the table (be sure to protect the table with a trivet or folded tea towel) and scatter the cilantro over everything.

To serve, each guest takes one or two tortillas in one hand, smears cheese over the surface of one and adds a meatball.

Chorizo, most familiar to Americans as sausage, is not a single thing but rather a category of sausages with distinctive seasonings, especially paprika, cumin, garlic and either white wine or vinegar. Although chorizo originated in the Iberian peninsula, countries around the world have traditional versions. Many types are fermented and aged, some contain fresh herbs and leafy greens and a few are simple bulk mixtures which can be used to make delicious Mexican-style meatballs.

Chorizo Albondigas

Serves 4 to 6

Olive oil

1 small yellow onion, cut into small dice

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 or 2 serranos, minced

Kosher salt

Black pepper in a mill

½ teaspoon chipotle powder

¾ pound fresh bulk chorizo (see Note below)

½ pound freshly ground pork

½ cup fresh breadcrumbs, preferably homemade

1 egg, beaten

All-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour a little olive oil into a small sauté pan, add the onion and sauté until limp and fragrant, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the garlic and serranos and sauté 2 minutes more. Season with salt and several turns of black pepper. Stir in the chipotle powder, remove from the heat and cool slightly.

Put the chorizo and pork in a medium mixing bowl, add the onion mixture and the breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly. Mix in the egg.

Use a small ice cream scoop to shape the mixture into balls; set the formed balls on a sheet of wax paper.

Pour about a cup of flour into a wide bowl, season with salt and pepper and coat the meatballs by dropping them, a few at a time, into the flour and agitating the bowl until they are evenly coated. Return the floured meatballs to the wax paper.

Set a nonstick frying pan over medium heat and when it is hot, brown the meatballs all over, working in batches. Transfer the browned meatballs to a rimmed baking sheet.

When all the meatballs have been browned, transfer them to the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep hot until ready to serve.

Note: I do not recommend using commercial Mexican chorizo, as it’s almost always much too greasy. It is pretty easy to find bulk chorizo at local markets, such as Pacific Market in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa and from Franco’s One World Sausages, which you can find at farmers markets in Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol .

This soup is inspired by the fideos of Barcelona, a dish in which short noodles are prepared similarly to paella. It can be simple, with just the toasted pasta simmered in a fish stock, or complex, with a cornucopia of fish, meats and vegetables. Here the pasta is toasted and then incorporated into a tangy soup with spicy meatballs. Most Latino markets sell fideo in 8-ounce packages. It is usually offered in a variety of widths; I recommend the thinnest for this soup. If you can’t find it, you can use angel hair pasta and break it into short pieces.

Sopa de Fideo y Albondigas

Serves 6 to 8

Chorizo Albondigas, (see recipe, above)

4 tablespoons chicken fat or olive oil

8 ounces fideo or angel hair pasta, broken into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow onion, minced

2 to 3 serranos, seeded and minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt

Black pepper in a mill

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

8 cups homemade chicken stock

1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

Juice of 1 lime

2 cups (8 ounces) grated Jack cheese

Hot corn tortillas

Lime wedges

Make the meatballs and set them aside.

Heat the fat or olive oil in a large deep skillet or heavy saucepan set over medium-low heat, add the pasta and fry until it is deep golden brown, stirring continuously and taking care not to burn it. Transfer the pasta to a dish, leaving behind as much fat as possible.

Add the onions to the pan and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add the serranos and garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the tomatoes and stock. Increase the heat and, as soon as the liquid reaches a rolling boil, reduce the heat to low so the soup simmers gently. Simmer for 15 minutes, add the pasta and cook until it is tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, parsley and lime juice. Taste and correct the seasoning.

Divide the meatballs among soup bowls and ladle the hot soup over them. Sprinkle with cheese and enjoy right away, with tortillas and lime wedges alongside.

Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date, including “More Than Meatballs,” from which these recipes are adapted. Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com.