Monday, June 8, 2009

swedish meatballs

swedish meatballs
whenever i make marinara & meatballs, i almost always make turkey meatballs. not only because it's a healthier option, but really, it's more delicious! if you don't believe me, please try it for yourself. your friends and family might not even notice that it's turkey. it's that good.

so when i decided to make swedish meatballs, i of course used turkey. you can sub the turkey for meat or pork or a combo of both in this recipe but i highly suggest you use turkey!

mise en place - meatballs

swedish meatballs
makes about 25-30 meatballs
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey (or meat, pork, or combo of both)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

in a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and milk. set aside.

in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable (or other flavorless) oil and sautée the onions w/ a pinch of salt. when the onions just start to turn soft, add the garlic and continue to sautée untill everything is soft and transparent. remove from heat and let cool slightly.

in a large bowl, combine all ingredients - turkey, breadcrumb/milk mixture, egg, sauteed onions & garlic, salt & pepper. using your hands, mix all the ingredients until well combined but do not over mix. try to handle the meat as little as possible. form the mixture into 1 oz. sized balls. you should end up w/ about 25-30 meatballs.

in the same skillet that you sauteed the onions, heat 1 tablespoon butter w/ 1 tablespoon oil, over medium heat. cook the meatballs until nice and brown on all sides and cooked thru.

transfer the meatballs to a platter and cover to keep warm. now prepare the sauce.

mise en place - sauce

the sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup flour
4 cups beef broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper

in the same skillet where you cooked the meatballs, sautée the onions & garlic until just about soft and transparent, adding a little more oil if needed. push the onions to the side of the pan, creating a well in the middle. add the 2 tablespoons of butter. when melted add the flour and whisk together. whisk and cook until the flour turns brown. about 2-3 mins. it's ok to mix it all up w/ the onions. add in the beef broth slowly, constantly mixing to ensure the flour does not leave clumps. add the cream, mix and bring the sauce to a simmer until a desired consistency is reached. the longer you simmer, the thicker the sauce will get. taste of seasoning and add salt & pepper as needed.

add the meatballs back in, heat thru if needed and you're ready to serve.

serve w/ egg noodles, alone, or w/ rice!

bon appétit~!

38 comments:

  1. It looks really good but turkey is not really common in my part of the world. I can do it with chicken ,though but it just might not taste as good.

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  2. In the last part, the recipe says: "add the cream, mix and bring the sauce to a simmer until a desired consistency is reached."

    WHAT CREAM? & how much of it?

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    1. Its the 6th ingredient down in the sauce recipe portion....

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  3. oops! i've updated the recipe to add in the cream. thanks!!

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  4. I love your shots of the mise en place - it's hard to make meatballs look appetizing in pictures but you definitely do!

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  5. Love the blog!

    "Chris is Starving!"

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  6. We LOVE meatballs in our house and anything to make them healthier would be welcomed! I'm always afraid that using turkey would make them taste dry but I'll definitely give your recipe a try next time! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. This looks faaabulous! And like Liz says, your mise en place photos are just gorgeous! Thanks!

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  8. i must also add that your mise en place looks superb! this recipe looks so good but i will probably never have a chance to make it since my roommate makes a mouthwatering danish version called frikadeller. (:

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  9. thank you, everyone for your comments!!

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  10. Great shots, especially the meez photos. My mum is Swedish so we were raised on meatballs, I can safely say that those look fantastic

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  11. wow, very2 delicious foods on picture..

    looks so delicious.

    nice blog.

    --
    wie
    http://acne-treatment-and-remedies.blogspot.com/

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  12. just discovered this blog today! love it - gorgeous pics

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  13. Hi! Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog, this way I can discover yours! All the recipe look fantastic, the green rice with parsley will maybe be my first try. I love the "mise en place" pictures!

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  14. I never made meatballs, but this inspired me totally! Wonderful pictures and the sauce looks so tasty, too.

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  15. I love this post! I think im going to use this recipe for valentines day!

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  16. I can see that preparing swedish meatballs is really easy, I thought it was more difficult, actually I'd prepare it tomorrow because a colleague is arriving tomorrow.m10m

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  17. Thank you for the recipe. I used chicken instead and didn't have heavy cream and substituted with some milk and extra flour. Delicious!

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  18. This recipe turned out wonderful. The only change I made was that I cooked my meatballs in the oven. Thanks for sharing. :-)

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  19. Oh so good! Next time, need lingonberries to go with it, but a nice Gewurztraminer goes well with it!

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  20. Very yummy! I popped the meatballs in the oven at 350 degrees to finish cooking them after browning giving me the pan longer to make the sauce. It was a huge hit with the kids and my husband!

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  21. i tried this last night and it was delicious! a new favorite in my house! thanks so much for sharing!

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  22. Can this be made with any other stock other than beef broth? I don't eat beef.....

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  23. This was so yummy, we've had it twice in the last week - once over noodles and the other over rice! I baked the meatballs, though.

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  24. Can't wait to make these again - they were DELICIOUS!!! My husband loved them! Thanks for sharing the recipe:)))))

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  25. The kids and husband LOVE this!! So, its a keeper. Thank you for sharing.

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  26. I made this the other night and it is a WINNER! I think I will make it again today. Thank you for posting.

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  27. This is what I am making for dinner tonight!! SO excited

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  28. I happened on this recipe by accident and I'm so glad I did. I had ground turkey that I wasn't sure what to do with so went ahead and tried this recipe. WINNER, my whole family loved it, including my picky 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old, they both gobbled it up and today asked for the leftovers for lunch. Thank you for the recipe. Fantastic!

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  29. We only eat ground turkey NOT ground beef., it taste better than hamburger. I promise!!!

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  30. MMMMMM!!!! Just found this via Pinterest. Used frozen meatballs to save a few minutes and had the rest of the ingredients on hand. Woohooo! Love dinners like this. Makes me proud. I feel like a good cook thanks to internet friends who share. Thanks soooo much!

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  31. Just made this tonight and it was delicious! I will definitely be making this again! Thanks for sharing the recipe! :)

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  32. These are wonderful. I added a pinch of nutmeg. My kids even like them and they are pretty picky. Thanks!

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  33. They were okay. Even with all of the seasoning, the blandness still shined through...back to ground beef I go!!

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  34. Ground turkey can gag a maggot...PERIOD! Sorry, no need to try the meatballs.

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  35. Noodles with this looks so good. How did you make them look so good. The recipe sounds wonderful.

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  36. I made these a while ago and they were *delicious*. I have some more turkey meatballs that I froze when I made too many for spaghetti, we'll see how well those work. Thanks for this.

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  37. Just made these the other night, they were delicious. The only change I made was cutting down the broth since 4 cups would definitely have overflowed the pan.

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