Swedish Meatballs Oh My!

I made one of my favorite dishes this week -- Swedish meatballs! They are so yummy. Definitely make them when you are in the mood for something hearty. They aren't hard to make but you do need to devote some time to shaping the meat into balls. This recipe probably takes about 1 hour to make.


Nellie’s Swedish Meatballs

6 TB butter
1 TB grated onion with juice preserved
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 cup water
½ pound lean ground beef
¼ pound ground veal
¼ pound ground pork
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
3 TB flour
2 cups beef broth

Sauté the onion and onion juice in 1 TB of the butter for 1-2 minutes. In the large bowl of an electric mixer combine the bread crumbs and water and soak for 1-2 minutes. Add the meats, spices and sugar. Beat on a low speed until smooth then turn the mixer to high and mix until the meat mixture is light and fluffy, about 8-10 minutes. Shape the meat into small meatballs (Swedish meatballs aren’t large like Italian meatballs) and place on a cookie sheet. Melt the remaining butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the meatballs and brown all sides by shaking the pan so they brown easily. Drain the meatballs on paper towels. Add the flour to the pan and stir over medium heat for about 1 minute. Slowly add the beef broth and stir until the gravy is thick and brown. Add the meatballs to the gravy. Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

*** Grated onions with juice make these meatballs very moist

*** Try sprinkling a little flour over the meat mixture and on your hands to help the meat from sticking to your skin. You can also use two spoons dipped in ice water to make the meatballs. I find that I can’t usually “roll” this meat mixture into balls b/c it’s too sticky. I more or less drop rounds of meat into the frying pan.

It seems counter intuitive to mix the meat using an electric mixer since meat gets tough if you work with it too much, however, these turn out super moist this way! I place a towel over the mixer to prevent a meat mess!