THIS TIME LAST YEAR, I was just finishing up 10 weeks of chemotherapy, an “insurance policy” after I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and undergone a mastectomy in the summer of 2023. The chemo took place every Friday afternoon (even the Friday after Thanksgiving!), and by Sunday I was wiped out. Friends and family set up a meal train that dropped off dinners and groceries three or four days a week, helping to feed my family and keep the wheels on the bus.
While we had many incredible home-cooked and restaurant-made meals over those 10 weeks, one shining beacon I remember was Charlie Midencey’s albondigas soup.
I met Midencey in 2020, when he was doing a pizza pop-up called Chachi’s. Years later, I still think of his abuela pie, topped with a bushel of fresh herbs and a zippy tomato sauce. Now he works at a country club on the Eastside, but he still does the occasional pop-up (his latest was a biscuit sandwich venture). Midencey just knows how to feed people. Turns out, it’s in his blood.
His albondigas — a hearty soup bobbing with thick-cut zucchini, carrots, potatoes and meatballs mixed with rice, chipotle and serrano peppers — is his grandmother Olga Riebeling’s recipe.
“My grandmother is from Chihuahua, where they had a ranch and ran the kitchen while they housed and fed cowboys,” Midencey says.
His grandmother moved to El Paso in 1952. The family bought a ranch there and continued cooking for cowboys, bolstering their traditional Mexican recipes with what they thought American cowboys might like — such as fried chicken. Family recipes also were updated with American conveniences over the years. Midencey swears by slow-cooked beans using his grandmother’s recipe — cooked in a crock pot overnight with just an onion, salt and a few cloves of garlic. He adds a scoop of Crisco before blending to make the creamiest beans for bean and cheese burritos.
As for the albondigas, Midencey says it represents a lot of his personal family history.
“We stew everything in Chihuahua,” he says.
He learned to cook by watching his mother, Anna Maria Midencey, and spending time with his grandmother. However — even in the Los Angeles area where he grew up — albondigas was rare.
“Everyone has heard of pozole, but even in L.A., not everyone has had albondigas,” Midencey says. “To me, it’s in the constant greatest hits. I make it 10 times a year.”
The soup has a rich, slightly spicy broth. The meatballs are tender and stuffed with rice — an addition favored by Riebeling. Midencey jokes that he “probably offends someone” because he uses canned corn in his recipe, but the result is so good, it makes no difference.
The soup is also naturally gluten-free, perfect for my celiac kid. It’s a winter warmer, and it’s easy to see how it nourished cowboys as easily as anyone just looking for a hug in a bowl. Consider making it for a friend in need, or as a treat for yourself.
Albondigas From Charlie Midencey
1 bunch cilantro
2 white onions
1 cup white rice
1 tablespoon diced chipotle
2 tablespoons cumin
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
3 pounds ground beef
2 zucchini
2 large carrots
3 russet potatoes
2 Roma tomatoes
2 serrano peppers
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart water
6 cloves garlic
½ can tomato sauce
1 can corn
1. Make the meatballs: Roughly chop the cilantro leaves and dice the onions, placing into a large bowl. Add the uncooked rice, chipotle, cumin, 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon, 1 tablespoon each of salt and black pepper, and ground beef. Mix until well combined, and roll into golf-ball-size meatballs. Set aside.
2. Chop the zucchini, carrots and potatoes into medium bite-size pieces. Set aside. Quarter the tomatoes. Halve and deseed the serranos.
3. In a large pot over medium-high heat, pour in chicken broth and 1 quart water. Add in tomatoes, serranos, garlic, 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon and half a can of tomato sauce (about 1 cup). Mix and bring to a boil, boiling for 5 minutes or until tomatoes and serranos are soft.
4. Remove from heat, and blend soup using a stick blender.
5. Bring mixture back to a boil, and add in meatballs. After meatballs are added, lower heat to a simmer, and add diced carrots. Once carrots are fork-tender, add potatoes. Once the potatoes are fork-tender, add zucchini and corn.
6. Cover with a lid, and turn off heat. Lest rest for 15 minutes or until zucchini reaches desired tenderness, and serve.
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