(adapted from Simplyrecipes.com)
This is a really good recipe for Swedish meatballs. They’re very soft and yummy and worth buying a jar of ground cardamom spice if you don’t have any in your pantry just to make them. They’re saucy, and I like to serve them with egg noodles and peas. The jelly in the sauce is barely noticeable, but it really does add that extra somethin’ somethin.’ I wouldn’t omit it–I can never find ligonberry, so I always just use seedless raspberry.
Serves 4 vikings, or 8-10 regular people.
Meatballs:
* 1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, grated (through a cheese grater)
* 2 Tbsp butter
* 2/3 cup milk
* 4-5 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
* 2 eggs
* 1 pound ground pork
* 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 2 teaspoons black pepper
Sauce:
* 6 Tbsp butter
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 quart low salt beef stock
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
* Salt
* 4 Tbsp of Lingonberry, cranberry, red currant or raspberry jelly, more or less to taste
1. Sauté the grated onion in the butter over medium-high heat until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the bread pieces with the milk. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread soaks up all the milk. When it does, pulverize the bread in a food processor or squish it around with your hands and pour it all into a large bowl.
3. Add the cooled onions to the bowl of milk and bread. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients—eggs, ground pork, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper. Using your very clean hands, mix well for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are well combined.
4. Use a measuring spoon tablespoon to measure out the meat for the meatballs–they’ll be the perfect size. If you make the meatballs with damp hands, it makes the whole process easier. As you form the meatballs, set each one aside on a sheet pan or plate. You should get 40 to 50 meatballs.
5. Heat 6 tablespoons of butter for the sauce in a large sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, reduce the heat to medium and add some of the meatballs. Do not crowd the pan. Work in batches, browning them slowly on all sides. Be gentle when you turn them so they don’t break apart. Do not cook the meatballs all the way through, only brown them at this stage. Once browned, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan, setting them aside so you can make the sauce with the remaining pan butter.
6. Start the sauce. (Check the pan butter to see if it has burned. If the butter tastes burnt, discard the butter and replace with new 6 tablespoons.) Heat the pan butter on medium until hot. Slowly whisk in the flour. Stirring often, let the flour cook until it is the color of coffee-with-cream; this is a classic roux. It should take a couple of minutes.
7. As the roux is cooking, heat the beef stock in another pot until it simmers. When the roux has cooked until the color of coffee-with-cream, slowly add the hot beef stock a little at a time. Everything will sputter at first, and the sauce will seize up and solidify. Keep whisking and adding stock slowly, and it will loosen up and become silky.
8. Add the meatballs to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. You might need to do this in batches.
9. To finish, move the meatballs to a serving dish. Add the sour cream (1/2 cup first unless you taste it and think it needs a little more) and jelly and mix well and pour the sauce over the meatballs. Taste the sauce, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with buttered egg noodles and a green veggie—peas work really well with this.
