Pork albondigas in chipotle and roaste..

Cooking Instructions

Set some mint leaves aside for garnish, if you want.

Remove the stems and seeds from the chipotle(s).

Set your oven at 450F.

Put the bacon and 1 clove of garlic in a food processor and pulse them until they're finely chopped. Add the eggs, panko, and about a teaspoon of salt. Pulse that a few more times, and then add the pork and the chopped mint leaves. Pulse again until everything's well combined, but no to the point that it gets gluey. Scrape the contents out onto a clean work surface with a rubber spatula.

Get your hands wet (so that the meat mix doesn't stick too much), and form about 16 golf-ball sized meatballs. Space them in a baking pan (13" x 9" is a good size) and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes--until the tops are lightly browned (the bottoms will be darker).

While that's happening, put the following into your food processor (I don't bother cleaning the processor between steps, since it's all going to cook again anyway): the tomatoes, the juice from the can of tomatoes, chipotles, adobo, oregano, the 2 remaining cloves of garlic (it's a good idea to cut them in half first), and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Zap all of that until you have a nice, smooth puree.

Once the meatballs are done, spoon as much of the fat off as you can (don't freak out if you don't get it all; it's fine to leave a little bit behind). Pour the tomato-chipotle sauce into the baking pan; you should be able to cover the meatballs pretty evenly (again, it's not rocket science--this is a forgiving recipe). Put the pan back into the oven for 15 or 20 minutes. The sauce will resemble tomato paste when it's done.

Now get the stock hot, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Divide the meatballs among dinner plates (you should have enough to serve four), but be sure to leave most of the sauce behind in the baking pan. Stir enough of the stock into the sauce that you get a nice, spoonable consistency. Taste the sauce, and add more salt (or whatever) if you like. Then spoon the sauce over the meatballs, garnish them with mint leaves (again, if you want), and you're done!