replicating a favorite

do you have a dish from a restaurant that you absolutely love? i know i do. eating out is expensive, but sometimes you really just want that delicious, professional, mouth-watering restaurant taste... can you have it at home?

i think you can! the trick is just finding, or creating, the right recipe. here are a few tips:

• check the restaurant's website. some restaurants, like olive garden for example, posts recipes on their website. easy as that!
• google it. chances are there is a recipe online for it somewhere! caution: this doesn't mean it will be fabulous, but if you find it somewhere reputable, it's bound to be good!
• check your favorite food blogs. or your friends blogs for that matter. my friend amy recently posted her mom's recreated cafe rio salads and pf changs lettuce wraps. jenny at picky palate recreated one of her restaurant favorites - the pizza pie - and it looked delicious!
• recreate it yourself. check the menu at the restaurant for ingredients first. what is that flavor you just can't identify? it might just say it on the menu - i.e. "a hint of lime", "drizzled with garlic and olive oil", etc. don't forget to share it with the rest of us when it's fabulous!

enough with tips... on to the food. i got really hungry the other day for a favorite from our favorite family restaurant - macayo. not the best mexican food, but for some reason tradition always makes it taste better than it probably actually is. :) either way, i was totally craving albondigas soup, spanish for "meatball" and a macayo specialty, so i googled it and it turns out one of my favorite food bloggers - elise at simply recipes - had a recipe for it. a few skinny bovine modifications and mmmm.... we had delicious albondigas soup for dinner. check it out!

albondigas soup

adapted from simply recipes

serves 6-8

yes... my camera captured the steam coming off of the soup. way cool.

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 small/medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 - 1 cup of tomato sauce (i want to use 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes next time)
10 cups beef broth (or chicken, i used beef though) (elise said: "we usually use half stock half water as the meatballs will create their own stock" - i used 8 cups broth 2 cups water since the ground turkey doens't create as strong a broth as ground beef)
2 large carrots, sliced
1 pound ground turkey
1/3 cup of raw white rice + an extra handful
1 raw egg
4 teaspoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
dried oregano
salt and pepper

4 large handfuls fresh baby spinach
chopped fresh cilantro

1. heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. add onion and minced garlic and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. add tomato sauce and broth mixture. bring to boil and simmer. add carrots.
2. prepare meatballs. mix rice into meat, adding parsley, salt and pepper. add raw egg. form beef into 1-inch meatballs (i used a small cookie scoop - worked like magic!).
3. return soup to gentle simmer. add meatballs to soup, one at a time. cover and let simmer for 1/2 hour. add spinach towards the end of the 1/2 hour. add a few pinches of oregano and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. garnish soup with chopped fresh cilantro.