We found this recipe in an old issue of Gourmet magazine. It accompanied an oxtail pâté which you make from the strained oxtails from this recipe.

Heck, if you are going to go through all that trouble, you may as well make enough for plenty of meals during the week. This is one such stew, a hearty cousin of beef barley soup, but bulked up with carrots, celery root, and lots of mushrooms.

Albondigas soup is a traditional Mexican meatball soup (“albondigas” means “meatballs” in Spanish) that my mother has cooked for our family for more than 50 years. It is our version of comfort food.

My father, being of the solid German stock that he is, is naturally a connoisseur of all things potato.