I'm not a huge fan of ground beef. If it's in my fridge, it's more than likely going into homemade spaghetti sauce. Occasionally I'll make tacos with it, but I really prefer chicken for tacos. I've made meatloaf once, my grandmother's meatballs in a kind of barbecue sauce a handful of times, pan-fried burgers *gasp* before I refused to make any more grill-foods not on a grill, and several boxes of hamburger helper, which I have stopped buying because I like my foods to be more, shall I say, natural.
The other day I needed sausage and I conveniently had a coupon (on me even!) for $1.00 off when I also purchased ground beef. And so I did. I was thinking about making a meatloaf with it because the baby would probably devour some meatloaf and I could even sneak some veggies in it, totally in disguise. However, meatloaf requires mashed potatoes and with all the potato eating we've been doing the past couple of weeks, I really really didn't want mashed potatoes.
And so, for the first time in my life, I made Swedish meatballs. My mom used to make these when I was younger and I never ate them. I think it was because of the word 'Swedish'. I do believe that until last night I had actually only once had Swedish meatballs and they were of the Stouffers variety. Classy.
After a quick goggle search, I'm realizing that what I made was not at all Swedish meatballs, as I did not have any ground pork on hand and that kinda seems like a requirement. The spices added and sauces made seem to vary quite a bit, but pork is a staple. Oh well.
Almost Swedish Meatballs
1 c bread, torn into chunks (white bread, wheat bread, the stale butt end of a French loaf you have laying around - whatever will do fine)
1/4 c milk
3 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 c onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef (or half beef, half pork)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 c flour
3 c beef broth
1/4 c cream (heavy or light)
In small bowl, mix bread and milk. Set aside.
In frying pan, melt 1 tbsp butter over med-low heat and cook onion until soft.
In large bowl, combine beef, onion, yolks, spices, and bread mixture. Use your hands - they'll end up getting messy anyway. Form into meatballs about the size of ping-pong balls.
Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add meatballs to pan and cook until done throughout, approximately 8-12 minutes. Remove meatballs from pan.
Reduce heat to low. Add flour and whisk until browned. Slowly stir in beef broth and cook until gravy is thickened. Stir in cream.
Place meatballs back into the pan and cover until ready to serve.
Swedish meatballs go best with egg noodles. And apparently egg noodles go best with butter, but a certain fiance of mine decided to bring that up after the food was already on his plate. Fortunately for me, I had to feed the baby first (he loved this recipe, by the way), so I was able to enjoy my noodles with butter and gravy. Yummy!
Also, I honestly think these meatballs were better today for lunch than they were last night. But maybe that's because making lunch today was much easier and quicker than making dinner last night. Also, I was able to eat lunch in (relative) peace.
Did you know that Swedish meatballs are served in most of the cafeterias of IKEA's around the world? It says so right here.
The other day I needed sausage and I conveniently had a coupon (on me even!) for $1.00 off when I also purchased ground beef. And so I did. I was thinking about making a meatloaf with it because the baby would probably devour some meatloaf and I could even sneak some veggies in it, totally in disguise. However, meatloaf requires mashed potatoes and with all the potato eating we've been doing the past couple of weeks, I really really didn't want mashed potatoes.
And so, for the first time in my life, I made Swedish meatballs. My mom used to make these when I was younger and I never ate them. I think it was because of the word 'Swedish'. I do believe that until last night I had actually only once had Swedish meatballs and they were of the Stouffers variety. Classy.
After a quick goggle search, I'm realizing that what I made was not at all Swedish meatballs, as I did not have any ground pork on hand and that kinda seems like a requirement. The spices added and sauces made seem to vary quite a bit, but pork is a staple. Oh well.
Almost Swedish Meatballs
1 c bread, torn into chunks (white bread, wheat bread, the stale butt end of a French loaf you have laying around - whatever will do fine)
1/4 c milk
3 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 c onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef (or half beef, half pork)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 c flour
3 c beef broth
1/4 c cream (heavy or light)
In small bowl, mix bread and milk. Set aside.
In frying pan, melt 1 tbsp butter over med-low heat and cook onion until soft.
In large bowl, combine beef, onion, yolks, spices, and bread mixture. Use your hands - they'll end up getting messy anyway. Form into meatballs about the size of ping-pong balls.
Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add meatballs to pan and cook until done throughout, approximately 8-12 minutes. Remove meatballs from pan.
Reduce heat to low. Add flour and whisk until browned. Slowly stir in beef broth and cook until gravy is thickened. Stir in cream.
Place meatballs back into the pan and cover until ready to serve.
Swedish meatballs go best with egg noodles. And apparently egg noodles go best with butter, but a certain fiance of mine decided to bring that up after the food was already on his plate. Fortunately for me, I had to feed the baby first (he loved this recipe, by the way), so I was able to enjoy my noodles with butter and gravy. Yummy!
Also, I honestly think these meatballs were better today for lunch than they were last night. But maybe that's because making lunch today was much easier and quicker than making dinner last night. Also, I was able to eat lunch in (relative) peace.
Did you know that Swedish meatballs are served in most of the cafeterias of IKEA's around the world? It says so right here.
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