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I wish that I had something clever and witty to say in this post, but sometimes brains don’t feel like being clever or witty. Sometimes brains like to go into a fog and stumble around in the dark. Doggone it. I hate it when my brain does that.
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Time marched steadily onward today and I panicked in the time crunch of preparing for an outrageously fun Mediterranean cruise that my husband and I are taking with John’s brother, sisters, their spouses and John’s mom. I didn’t take time to eat and finally about 2:00 it dawned on me that maybe I should take a moment and refuel.
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I curled up on my bed with a bowl of frosted mini wheats and tried to reconnect with the mental part of myself that was running around like a crazy woman. The mini wheats tasted good, even when they got soggy, but the crazy woman in my head ignored them and went on yelling about how I needed to pack and what the heck did I think I was doing sitting down on the bed eating and when did I think I was going to get everything done?
I told her to chill out.
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This evening I made some dinner because there were hungry people in the house and because I needed to make the Swedish meatballs that I had promised myself I would make. (In truth, after today I ought to be committed to the nearest psych unit. No offense meant to anyone who has ever been committed to a psych unit. It might do everyone some good once in a while. You know, a little R&R, talk about how your parents messed up your life, get some great prescription medications to make you feel calmer, take some quiet time to regroup…).
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Anyway, back to the post at hand. Mixing the meatballs will sort of remind you of mixing that Amazing Meatloaf because they use similar ingredients and a similar method. The meatballs, however, have some unexpected spices such as nutmeg and allspice. So good. The sauce for the meatballs is rich and creamy and perfect. Comfort food at its finest.
Swedish Meatballs
Traditional Swedish meatballs nestled in a rich, creamy gravy, with hints of allspice and nutmeg, will bring the family running to the dinner table.
Servings: 60 meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 2 slices bread, torn into pieces
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork, not sausage
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated, if you have it)
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Gravy:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with a cooking spray such as Pam. Set aside.
- Put the bread in a small bowl. Pour the milk over the bread and toss until the bread is coated. Set aside for a couple of minutes so that the bread soaks up all of the milk.
- Over medium heat in a skillet, warm the olive oil and butter until the butter has melted. Add the minced onion and cook until onion is translucent. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, ground pork, cooked onions, eggs, bread, allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Form meat mixture into smallish meatballs and place on the foil-lined baking sheet. You can get about 60 meatballs from this recipe.
- Bake at 450-degrees for about 15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and have started to brown.
For the Gravy:
- Over medium heat, melt the 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Stir in the flour until smooth. Pour in the broth and stir well.
- Add the cream and stir until everything is well incorporated. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring as needed.
- Add the meatballs to the gravy. Stir gently to coat meatballs with the gravy. Bring sauce back to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes or until meatballs are heated through.
Notes
These meatballs are great served with mashed potatoes and some lingonberry jam on the side. Look for lingonberry jam with the jams and jellies at your grocery store.
You may also like:
Swedish Beetroot Apple Salad {Rodbetsallad}
Swedish Almond Cake
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I am totally making these tonight! Thanks for the idea!
Thanks for including this on my link-along. I adore swedish meat balls but I’ve never used pork in them.
Hi Savannah. Pork is a common ingredient in true Swedish meatballs. I didn’t know it either until my husband and his family introduced me to the realities of life in Sweden. My husband spent 5 years living in Sweden and his ancestory is Swedish. These taste a lot like the Swedish meatballs that we get when we go to Swedish Heritage Society events here in Utah, so I’m thinking that this is a relatively authentic recipe.
Thanks for hosting the blog hop. I was glad that I actually had a few recipes with sausage as an ingredient!
These look fantastic. I’ve never made Swedish meatballs (I’m an East Coast Italian girl!), but I think I’ll give them a shot. Do you think it would be totally inappropriate to substitute sour cream for the cream? I’m thinking that would give it a bit of a zip, like stroganiff (one of hubby’s faves!)
The Gentle Mom–Thank you for the compliment. Sour cream sounds wonderful. I think I’ll do the same thing!
I was wondering if this was your picture of the meatballs. If it is, another site “The easy cajun” on facebook has used your image as their cajun meatballs.
Yep. It’s my picture and yep, The Easy Cajun has swiped it. I checked out his facebook page where he states “The Swedes don’t have anything on Cajuns mes amis ;-)”. Interesting statement considering that he is showing a picture of Swedish meatballs. Gosh, decisions, decisions. Let this one ride or talk to him about it? ~Terri