Swedish meatballs



The temperatures are cooling down and I was craving something warm and soothing that wasn't soup. I had some hamburger in the refrigerator but I didn't want meatloaf or regular meatballs. I wanted something more put together than Hamburger Helper and I thought...I haven't made Swedish meatballs in forever! I had all the ingredients on hand so off I went a cooking!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 1/3 cups low-salt beef stock, divided
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup minced onion
• 2 thick slices bacon, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 3/4 pound ground pork
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sour cream, whisked

Directions:
Mix breadcrumbs and 1/3 cup stock in a small bowl.  Make sure you mix it together well so that all of the crumbs are moistened. Set aside.

 

 

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer onion to a large bowl.

          

Wipe out pan and return to medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to bowl with onion. (Reserve bacon fat.) Add next 8 ingredients to bowl with onion mixture, mixing with your hands to blend. *Now I know it feels gross to mix it with your hands but it really is the only way to do it! By mixing with your hands you can feel all the lumps and unmixed ingredients. You really want this to be a nice smooth mixture no big lumps.* Fold in breadcrumb mixture. *Now here is where you may want to adjust the mixture. Mine was a bit to wet. Keep in mind that Swedish Meatballs are softer than say Italian meatballs. So you don't want the mixture to be hard but you don't want it to be runny either. The best way I can explain it is the consistency of oatmeal that has absorbed all the liquid or like soft chocolate chip cookie dough (I knew I would hit a light bulb with the cookie one...lol).* I didn't have any more fresh bread crumbs so I had to add dried unseasoned bread crumbs. I would add some, mix it then let it sit for a couple of minutes to let the moisture be soaked up by the bread crumbs. I did this till I liked the texture.

 

 

 

Using a 1 tablespoon measure, roll meat mixture into balls; transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. *I didn't transfer mine to a baking sheet at this time because I didn't want them to get a crust on them from the heat of my kitchen (it's a really tiny kitchen!). I used a cookie scoop (bought at a restaurant supply but you can get them everywhere, Target, WalMart etc.) Using the cookie scoop it was easier to drop the meatballs into the pan and I didn't have to get my hands sticky all the time. I also kept the mixture in the refrigerator when I wasn't using it again so there was no crust that formed but so that it didn't get overly sticky.*

          

The top scoop is a cookie scoop. I think it's rated as medium or I think a #6 but please don't quote me on that..lol. It is two sizes down from an ice cream scoop. The bottom scoop is a Tablespoon so you can see the size for reference. Sorry such a bad photo too...looked better on the camera...lol

Melt 1 tablespoon butter with reserved bacon fat in a large heavy pot over medium-low heat. Working in 3 batches (mine ended up being many more than 3 batches! Be sure not to over crowd the pan it cools down the pan too much and makes it a pain to turn the meatballs) and adding 1 tablespoon butter between batches, (now don't get excited but yes you are going to use a lot of butter...but ohhh does it taste so good and well comfort food is supposed  to be comforting, and you can hit the gym tomorrow...lol) brown meatballs on all sides, about 6–8 minutes per batch.

 

This is the meatballs right after they have been dropped into the pan.

 

Make sure they are browned on all sides. Don't they look so yummy already?

 

Transfer meatballs to a plate. *Here is where I put mine on a edged cookie sheet and in the oven at 200 degrees to keep warm and to slowly finish cooking.* Drain all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pot. Whisk in flour until smooth paste forms. Stir in 2 cups stock; bring to a simmer, whisking often. Return meatballs to pot. Cover; simmer until meatballs are cooked, 5-6 minutes. *I didn't return mine to the pan because my pan was too small. I made the sauce then poured it over the meatballs. * Remove from heat, whisk in sour cream, and stir to coat meatballs.

 

 

Mmmm plate and enjoy!!! Ohhh they were so good and tender too! Jim ate these for his lunch for two more days and never complained one bit! I hope you try this recipe and let me know what you think. It's not heavy like beef stroganoff and the pork and spices give it a nice spice flavor. If you have never tried Swedish meatballs, I highly recommend you do :-)

 

 

 

Easy honey pork

I had one of those days where I didn't feel like cooking or inventing anything. I was uninspired and looking in my fridge was not helping spark my inner foodie..lol. I was searching online for something just anything that peaked my interest when I came across this site.

Kind of a neat site if you have ingredients in your fridge and pantry and don't feel like coming up with something to do with them. Check out My Fridge Food and see what fun kind of recipes they come up with for you.

This is what my search did today: The ingredients in red are things I added to make it more to our liking.

Easy honey pork

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless pork loin, pounded thin
• 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or two eggs)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
• 1 teaspoon each: onion powder, granulated garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (I used Emerald glazed Walnuts Butter Toffee)
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1/3 cup milk (2%)

Directions:

1. Cut the pork loin into chops. I cut mine about 3/4 inch thick before I pounded them out. Then pound them to about 1/4 -3/8 inch thick. Mine are 3/8 inch thick. *A couple of tips....since you are going to double bread them they will take a little longer to cook, so the thinner you make them the faster they will fry up. If you are concerned about the pork being completely done, fry them in the pan then finish them off in a 325 degree oven (this is also a bit healthier if you put them on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet when you put them in the oven that way the grease drips off) until done. Second tip....when pounding the chops out...put them in a ziploc bag and pound them out there. It helps keep them together and not stick to your meat mallet. If you don't have any ziploc bags you can also spray your mallet with a bit of Pam to help from sticking.*

2. Season the pork with salt and pepper. *Why you ask since it's in the flour...when you put the chop in the oil you loose a bit of the flavor. So by seasoning the pork before your meat will be nicely seasoned and no added seasoning after cooking will be needed*  In a shallow dish, mix together flour, onion powder, granulated garlic, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish add the Egg Beaters. Dredge pork cutlets in the  Egg Beaters then in the flour mixture, and repeat.

3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chops, and brown both sides. Transfer to a warm plate.

4. Drain off any excess oil from the pan but do not wipe the pan!!! You want the bits on bottom of the pan for when you make the sauce. Melt the butter in the pan and deg laze it. *De glazing means as the butter melts and it will start to loosen the baked on bits in the pan.* Use your spatula to scrape them from the bottom to mix with the butter. Mix honey and pecans into the pan drippings. Heat through, stirring constantly.

 

 

5. Add the teaspoon of flour and whisk thoroughly. Turn up the heat to high till the mixture  starts to get foamy. Add the milk and continue mixing constantly till thickened to your desire. At this point you can add more milk or even butter to make the sauce thinner or thicker. This is the consistency that I liked, hot too thick but not runny either.

 

 

6. Pour sauce over cutlets. Enjoy!