Swedish Meatballs

The local IKEA is a good place to go with kids, especially in the [now finally-ending-never-thought-it-would] wintertime. You can set up children in a variety of places to play (although LBA will tell you the only thing worth doing is watching the TV that plays movies near the cafe, sigh). You can then feed them for only a few dollars. One of the staples of the IKEA cafe are the Swedish meatballs.

My mother would occasionally make meatballs growing up, calling them Swedish meatballs, but really just meatballs served in a beef broth over egg noodles. And there was not one thing wrong with that. My MIL makes a pretty good meatball as well, and serves hers inside a really good red sauce.

Cheverly Chef Scott whipped up a case of Swedish meatballs for Oscar night a few weeks back. Here's his take.

Swedish Meatballs, oven-baked
from Anne's Food

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, very finely diced
• 1-2 small cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• salt
• white pepper
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp cardamom
• 1/8 tsp allspice
  

Mix everything to an even mix, and form small, round balls.

Put in a large roasting pan, and bake for about 20 minutes at 350°F. Shake the pan a few times to ensure an even surface on your meatballs.

When my meatballs were done at this point, I took the pan out of the oven and shook them. And this is going to sound nasty, but stick with me; they were coated with coagulated proteins. And that's not the name of a new punk band! No, the fat and liquid in the beef cooked out in the oven and stuck to the meatballs. I took a slotted spoon and picked each one out and gave it a shake, the proteins rolled off and they were all set. I put the meatballs in a bowl and poured off all the fat and proteins. My meatballs lacked some color, so I put them back in the pan and did give them a quick fry over high heat to get some deep browning carmelization on them. This also gave me the opportunity to leave some bits and nibbles in the pan for the pan sauce.

When I had some good color on the meatballs, I removed them, back to a bowl and started on a pan sauce. I tossed in 1 TB of butter and 3 finely diced shallots. Season with salt and pepper and allow to simmer and saute for 2-4 minutes, until the shallots are tender. Add 1 TB of flour and stir to blend into the butter and shallots. Cook for 1 minute. Add 1 cup beef broth. Stir to incorporate and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 TB of sour cream or heavy cream. Stir. Add the meatballs and 1 heaping TB of chopped parsley. Stir to coat. Serve with rice, potatoes, noodles or on their own.

These were easy. Fairly fast. But not 100% what I was hoping for. A few things to try the next time I try these..

1. Use a blend of ground meats; beef & pork, maybe a blend from the store of beef, pork, veal. Something to supplement and improve the flavor of the beef.
2. I think the two types of cooking over cooked the meatballs. First in the oven, then on the stove top to get some color. I'm not sure if I should do them again in the oven for 10 minutes, then the stove top for a few minutes? They were cooked through in the oven, the extra time on the stove top forced out any remaining moisture creating a very dry meatball and the extra heat toughened them up. Or, maybe I can put a rack on my pan and cook the meatballs that way, so the fat and proteins drip away, and allowing for more of a roasted version, allowing for carmelization and browning.
3. Even though the onions and garlic cook in the meatballs, I would saute them for a few minutes before mixing with the ground meat. Raw onions and garlic don't play well with my belly and they revisit me often, over the next few hours.
4. And finally, double the gravy!