Yesterday I spent a lot of time perusing many different authentic Swedish Meatball recipes trying to find the *right* flavor combination of my Great Grandma Sand's recipe. You see, my 1st Generation German-American grandma grew up very, very poor during the Great Depression, one of 16 children (who lived past infancy), none twins. So her experience of German food was nil, to say the least. They were more a bread-with-some-sugar, boiled cabbage and if they were lucky: milk, sort of family. When grandma married my grandfather, Doral, his mother took her under her wing and taught her how to cook Swedish dishes, food her husband would like and that she could now (finally!) afford. So I grew up eating a lot of Swedish food cooked by my German grandmother. One of those were Swedish Meatballs -- and my grandma & I loved 'em. As she got older, she stopped with all the cooking, but would buy the frozen kind, saying she was pretending she was eating the real thing! Ha!
Every once in a while I get a hankering for those meatballs, and yesterday I had 4lbs of ground meat just itching to be made into something tasty. I looked at different recipes, I tweaked this, changed that, and tasted a couple of meatballs along the way . . . and I NAILED IT! Wooohoooo! They taste like heaven, just like my grandma used to make! It even pleased the Portuguese Man I love so dearly.
Swedish Meatballs in Gravy with Egg Noodles
Ingredients
MEATBALLS:
1 medium sweet yellow onion, very finely minced
1/4 cup salt-free butter
3 large eggs
3 slices white bread, crust removed
1/2 cup milk (or heavy cream)
2lbs ground meat (make sure 1lb is ground beef, but the other pound of meat can be ground pork and veal, or even buffalo, moose or elk. Combine the 2lb of meat as you like or just use 2 full pounds of ground beef. Ground sirloin is the best, of course)
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
GRAVY:
1/2 cup all purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup more on reserve for more thickening)
4 cups 2 % milk
2 cups beef gravy, like Pioneer Brand or McCormicks, just buy the simple powder mix, prepare while you are working on the meatballs. Or use 2 cups beef broth made from bouillon and add one additional teaspoon bouillon to the broth (so extra-beefy beef broth) -- and plan to add the extra 1/4 cup flour to thicken. If your gravy is too thick from gravy, add a half cup of milk to thin.
2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp Nutmeg
OPTIONAL: 1/2 pound sliced white or crimini mushrooms
EGG NOODLES:
One large package extra-wide egg noodles
2 TBSP butter
1/3 cup minced parsley
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, place crustless bread slices, pour 1/2 cup milk (cream is an option, an even tastier option, and also works well) over them. Place in fridge for at least an hour.
In the meantime, super thin mince your sweet onion. DO NOT USE DEHYDRATED ONION FLAKES! So if you have a food processor or chopper, definitely use that for a fine, fine mince. In a very large pan, melt the butter with the onions. If you're saying "oh KC! Why so much butter!?" -- trust me, you need it. You're not just sauteeing the onions until they're clear, you're caramelizing them. The butter allows them to cook longer and brings out the natural sugars, as well incorporates some flavor into the meatballs. So you are going to be caramelizing your onions over medium-high heat for at least five minutes, or until they are a nice golden-brown, and smelling a little sugary and feeling a bit sticky. Remove from heat and let cool a bit, so you don't burn your hands or cook the eggs while prepping your meatballs.
Like this, a nice golden, caramelized minced onion. You won't have this much, of course, but I doubled the recipe for my large family.
In a large bowl, lightly whisk your three eggs, add your meat, your spices, your parsley, and your soggy milk-bread that should have been in the fridge and hour or more by now. Add your slightly cooled off onions by scraping down your pan and adding both butter and onions to the bowl. Now combine well. Really well. Use your hands and make a good mince of it. This part is also fun for budding cooks, and kids love making meatballs! Form smallish 1" diameter meatballs, about the size of a small walnut. Turn your onion pan on over medium high heat, and start browning your meatballs in batches -- do not over-crowd the pan! Your meatballs will be easier to turn over and will brown rather than steam in an uncrowded-pan. Once they're a nice toasty brown on most sides -- using a slotted spoon transfer to a large plate lined with paper towels to drain while you finish the next few batches, but be careful to reserve the pan drippings (hence the slotted spoon).
The meatballs have room to mingle, maybe get a number or two . . .enjoy their drinks with plenty of elbow room.
Once your meatballs are done, start your large pot of salted water to boiling for your egg noodles. Back to the meatball pan: sprinkle your 1/2 cup flour on the pan drippings and whisk around over medium high heat until the flour turns golden and incorporates the drippings. You should basically have a nice ball of golden roux in about 2 minutes. Slowly add milk, half a cup at a time, and moisten the roux over still medium high heat, being sure to incorporate the flour with every addition. You should have a nice thick gravy at the end of the four cups of milk. Slowly add your beef gravy or broth, whisking the whole time, to incorporate the flavor. Add your Worcestershire Sauce, nutmeg and pepper. Bring to a boil and whisk until the sauce is a nice thinnish-gravy with a bit of wiggle room to thicken over the next half hour. If it's way too thin? Sprinkle a little more flour from your reserve over it, bring back to a boil and whisk until it's at a desired thickness. Remember, this is a sauce, not a thick gravy. You want it to spread easily around on it's bed of egg noodles! If you are adding mushrooms, do so now, and turn your heat down to a simmer, Medium-Low.
Meatball sauce roux. Mmmmmm . . . .
Return the meatballs to the pan and gently fold into the sauce. You'll simmer for 20-25 minutes in the sauce until the meatballs are cooked-through and nice and toasty warm, stirring occasionally and gently. Very gently. Kid gloves with this stir, people! The meatballs are quite well held together by the eggs and the bread-milk soak, but when hot will much more easily fall apart.
Prepare egg noodles as to package directions, then toss with the 2TBSP butter and parsley. Serve Meatballs and sauce on top, with a nice salad and some crusty bread to accompany!
Enjoy!
This recipe serves 4-6 people.
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