Swedish Meatballs

I was craving simple comfort food and I remembered my friend Currié saying she loved making Swedish Meatballs so I decided to give them a try. They were fairly simple to make and had just a little bit of clean up which is always a plus. I didn't have lingonberry jelly to add to the sauce but the recipe said I could use raspberry jelly instead. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about adding the jelly so I only put in a small amount but I am glad I added it. The jelly gave it a subtle sweetness that made the sauce taste delicious. The meatballs were moist and tender and tasted wonderful in the sauce. You can serve these meatballs over egg noodles but my kids wanted me to serve them over mashed potatoes. My husband and I really liked this dinner and it was a big hit with both of my kids who wanted the leftovers in their thermoses the following day for lunch. Love that!

Swedish Meatballs:

Adapted recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

Original recipe by Simply Recipes

• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced VERY finely or grated
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 2 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
• 1 egg
• 1 lb of ground beef (93/7)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 1/2 tbsp flour
• 2 cups of beef stock, warmed
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp of lingonberry, cranberry, red currant, or raspberry jelly, more or less, to taste (optional)

Sauté the onion in 1 tsp of butter over medium heat until softened, about 3-4 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, mix the bread pieces with the milk then set aside for a few minutes until soaked through. Once it is soaked, pulverize with an immersion blender or food processor (it will be goopy). Pour into a large bowl.

Add the onions to the bread mixture along with the eggs, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, and pepper. Using your hands, mix well until the ingredients are well combined.

Roll the meat into balls and place onto a plate. I made 18 meatballs but you can make them smaller or larger to suit your needs.

Heat 3 tbsp of butter to a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted add half of the meatballs to the pan (don't overcrowd the pan). Brown the meatballs 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, remove them to a plate and cook the remaining meatballs.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked and the skillet is empty, add the flour to the same skillet. Whisk the butter in the pan (from cooking the meatballs) with the flour until it is the color of coffee with cream; this is a classic roux. As the roux is cooking, heat the beef stock until warm. When the roux has cooked to the coffee with cream color, add the warmed beef stock a little at a time. Keep stirring and adding stock slowly until the sauce because silky.

Add the meatballs back to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.

To finish the sauce, remove the meatballs to a serving bowl then add the sour cream and (if using) jelly to the sauce and stir until well combined. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper or jelly if needed. Serve the meatballs and sauce over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - For the Love of Cooking.net