Swedish Meatballs

Hmmmm it seems to me like you all might need a new and exciting recipe to hit your screens. As we come barreling into April (when did that get here?), busy schedules and long days are ahead of us as all areas of life amp up for spring happenings. However, if you find you have a little extra time in your packed schedule, I recommend you try this recipe! While it looks like a long ingredient list and you may assume it's a complicated recipe, I'm happy to report that in fact, Swedish meatballs are not incredibly difficult to make. As a former Lean Cuisine Swedish meatball extraordinaire, I was ecstatic when this popped up on my Pinterest and on Buzzfeed, which is where Will found it. Completely independently of each other, when we started to select our weekly menu, we both suggested this recipe. While we initially thought we would just take the online recipe and only make that, we realized that we had JUST checked out a Swedish cookbook from the library! So we turned straight to the Swedish meatballs recipe and decided to combine the two to make our recipe. The main differences between the recipes? Sour cream v. heavy cream, chicken broth v. egg yolk, breadcrumbs v. real bread crumbled. And we ultimately made a decision to cook everything in butter, a la Paula Deen (before nobody liked her and the whole butter thing was charming). I will use one word to describe this recipe we morphed: divine. Treat yo'self by taking the few extra minutes to dedicate to making this recipe!

Cooking Notes: We only used 1 cup of chicken broth to make a 2-person sauce serving. This made at least 4 servings, if not 5. Had we not snacked on so many meatballs, we would've probably had 6 servings. We used a lean ground beef in the meat mixture. And next time, we're going to try the heavy cream for the sauce instead of sour cream.

Swedish Meatballs (adapted from The Swedish Table and Damn Delicious; serves 4-6)
4 tbsp butter, divided
1 onion, diced
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
S&P, to taste
Egg noodles, for serving
Gravy (full serving; adjust to make appropriate serving sizes)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups beef broth
3/4 cup sour cream
S&P, to taste
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

In a large skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat and cook minced onion until translucent, about 1-2 minutes. Season with S&P then set aside. In a food processor, process breadcrumbs, egg yolks, meats and spices for 2-3 minutes until thoroughly blended. Add cooked onion and blend 1 minute more. Put a small amount of olive oil on hands and form mixture into tiny (1 inch or smaller) meatballs. In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. When it begins to foam, begin adding meatballs. Stir and shake the pan until meatballs are uniformly browned on all sides and cooked through. Place meatballs on a serving platter and keep covered to remain warm. Begin to boil water for egg noodles. Cook according to package directions.

To make the gravy, melt the butter in the same skillet. Whisk the flour until lightly browned, 30 seconds - 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the broth and cook while whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in sour cream, season with S&P and cook for 4-6 minutes more, or until thickened completely. Place egg noodles in bowl, pour gravy over meatballs, garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Recipe: Damn Delicious: Swedish Meatballs and The Swedish Table