Meat balls with broth: an authentic stew

Although we had to plead for it to arrive this year, it's finally here: the cold weather is knocking at the door with increasing force and is impossible to ignore. It is certainly the case that, after such a scorching summer, it's nice to be able to put on your coat, boots and, of course, start to prepare steaming soups and stews. One of the most popular soups of Eastern Spain are meat balls with broth or broth with meat balls, a classic for the Christmas season. No matter what you call it: it is delicious, in all senses.

Valencian stew meat balls are the star of this recipe. We recommend making it at home, by mixing all of the ingredients that we will list below. But not just that: the broth is key to ensuring this dish maintains its characteristic flavour and leaves our guests speechless. Without further ado, let's look at how to make meat balls with broth.

Ingredients for meat balls with broth

The ingredients for meat balls with broth are very easy to find in any supermarket. Take note:

• 250 g chicken breast
• 250 g lean pork
• 125 g white pork
• 125 g longaniza sausage
• 125 g pancetta
• 1 handful chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 eggs
• Pine nuts
• Breadcrumbs
• Pepper
• Salt
• Juice of half a squeezed lemon

Recipe for broth with meat balls

Before you start, it is worth remembering that there's more than one way to cook an egg, What does this mean? That there are varieties in terms of the preparation of the meat ball for the Christmas broth depending on the specific area. This dish, with good reason, is common in Eastern Spain, both in the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community. It may be the case that the meat chosen, for example, varies slightly from one place to another.

In any case, sticking to the recipe we bring you today, we will choose to combine chicken breast, lean pork, white pork, longaniza sausage and pancetta. Ask the butcher to mince all of the ingredients together to speed up the process and at home you can start to make the recipe.

To do so, add the garlic and parsley to the minced meat (important: in very small pieces), in addition to the pine nuts, egg, breadcrumbs, lemon juice and other condiments. Knead the meat balls with your hands until they are homogeneous and approximately the size of a tennis ball and... voilà! The meat balls are done. Now let's look at the broth part and how to add the meat balls to it.

This might be an obvious thing to say but, to make a delicious broth with meat balls recipe, you also need to pay special attention to the broth. Here is what you will need to make it:

• A free range chicken thigh and drumstick
• 2 celery sticks
• A leek or parsnip
• Two or three serrano ham knuckle bones
• 3 carrots
• Saffron
• Concentrated chicken stock cube

Leave all of the ingredients to simmer in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes. It couldn’t be any easier. After that time, add the balls and leave them to cook (for around 15 minutes) until they become soft. Although it isn’t recommended, given that making it from scratch or using the leftover stock from stew is the most succulent option, you can also opt for prepared chicken stock or similar if you don’t have much time.  

Important before you finish! You can add noodles to the recipe if you want to, it will add even more consistency, if that’s what you prefer. Now the broth with meat balls is ready, a unique dish for when the cold weather bites and one that guests will love at Christmas celebrations… Yum!