Meatballs: Part 4

 

For the final stop on our meatball journey, we are taking a trip to Sweden. As you can imagine, after having four different kinds of meatballs in one month, my husband said he was ready for a change of pace. However, after trying these meatballs, he said, "If you had to end on one kind of meatballs, these would be the ones." This recipe was by far his favorite. I'm not going to lie, this is an awesome meatball recipe.

However, before I share this recipe with you, let us not forget that I already made a meatball visit to Greece a few years ago (in search of a recipe that came close to the meatballs found at the Greek Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah every September). This recipe is pretty darned close to those Greek Festival meatballs and it is absolutely delicious. I need to make those again sometime soon because those old pictures don't do it justice...but believe me, those Greek meatballs are one of the best meatball recipes you will ever have.

Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef chuck
1 pound ground pork
3 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 garlic cloves, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup, see notes below)
3 cups canned reduced-sodium beef broth
Grape or red-current jelly, cooked egg noodles, chopped parsley for serving, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine beef, pork, panko, 1/2 cup milk, eggs, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and allspice. Mix until just combined.

Using a rounded 1-tablespoon for each, form mixture into meatballs (you should have about 48). Place meatballs onto two rimmed baking sheets; bake until golden brown and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.

Meanwhile, make sauce: In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high. Add flour; cook, whisking, 1 minute (do not let darken). Gradually whisk in remaining cup milk and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce has slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Using a slotted spoon, add meatballs to bowl with sauce; gently toss to combine.

Serve as an appetizer on toothpicks with jelly on the side; or as a main, over noodles, garnished with parsley, with jelly on the side.

Source: Everyday Food, December 2008. You can find it here.

Notes: A couple of the reviews on the Martha Stewart site were negative. One review complained that it wasn't an authentic recipe due to its use of garlic and panko. I guess I am not super familiar with authentic Swedish meatballs. However, what I do know is that these were absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making them again. This recipe is going to become a staple in my house.

The only change I would make is that I felt that the recipe didn't call for enough flour to thicken the sauce. I added more flour to thicken it more. I would say that you need about 1/2 cup of flour to thicken this. You could add some salt and pepper, to taste, to the sauce. However, after tasting the sauce, I didn't feel that was necessary for me and my tastes. I thought it had a subtle, yet rich flavor as is and it complemented the meatballs perfectly.

I also tried it with a little grape jelly on the side (dipping my meatballs into it from time to time). I really liked the flavor contrast that added. This recipe is a keeper!