Almost Swedish Meatballs

No this is not a reference to Bill Murry's nationality or his movie career.  Rather, Jen and I were inspired to whip up this recipe after watching one of our favorite Swedish Chefs.  No...not this one:

Though he rocks in the kitchen as well, I'm told.  It was another awesome Swede that we were inspired by:

While we have a slightly different cooking style than the gentleman above (his style requires several sedatives and mood levelers to calm him before filming, I've heard) we were still inspired to whip our own version of said dish.  It's simple and filling.  Meat and gravy.  I would suggest adding some greenery to your plate in the form of a salad or vegetables but I'm not here to be your mommy so do whatever you like!

To accompany a Swedish culinary delight, we of course rock out to our favorite Swedish band.  But since I couldn't find my Abba cassettes we decided to listen to our second favorite Swedish band and went for Millencolin, a personal favorite since my high school days.  And since we had been inspired by Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime but didn't copy their recipe exactly, there is no Millencolin song more appropriate than "No Cigar"  Somehow "Dancing Queen" didn't exactly fit with this recipe... - justin

(On a side note, we changed the name from Swedish Meatballs to Almost Swedish Meatballs because my good friend, John Andersson, who is from Sweden, had this to say about our recipe: "Oh dear... if only you knew a swede who could set you straight... OK, these are, possibly, meatballs. If you want them Swedish style, you must serve the meatballs with potatoes or mashed potatoes. Any thing else is heresy. Also heresy: not including THE most important garnish: lingonberry jam. In Swedish homes or swedish restaurants you will not be able to find meatballs without potatoes and lingonberries on the same plate. I'm sorry, but on behalf of the entire Swedish population, I cannot approve of this. Meatballs: yes. Swedish meatballs: NO. Sorry."  Hahah!) -jen

Swedish Meatballs
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4-6

•  2 slices Rye bread (any bread will do but I like the flavor the Rye bread lends)
•  1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 2 tsp salt plus 1 pinch (for sweating onions)
• 1 1/4 lbs ground beef (we used ground chuck cause it tastes good!)
• 1 1/4 lbs ground pork
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  It will be used to keep meatballs warmed after browning.

Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small bowl with the milk and set aside to soak.

In a skillet, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium high heat.  Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are translucent.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the bread and milk mixture, ground beef, pork, egg yolks, 2 tsp salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions.  Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.  Roll portions into golf ball sized balls, about an ounce if you want to get all nerdy and weigh stuff out.  Heat the last 2 tbsp of butter in your onion skillet over medium-low heat and saute meatballs until they have browned on all sides, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove the meatballs from the heat and place on a sheet pan in the heated oven while we make the gravy.

Decrease the heat on the skillet to low and add the flour.  Whisk until the flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.  Gradually add the beef stock and keep whisking until it thickens.  Add the cream and cook until the gravy reaches the desires consistency.  Remove meatballs from oven, smother with gravy, and serve with some rice, potatoes, barley or what have you and enjoy!

Mexican Meatballs

So Jen and I like doing meatballs for dinner every so often and last time we had done a nice marinara we happened to be discussing ways to vary them and thought that a Mexican style meatball would be awesome and easy to pull off.  Here is my attempt at this meal and I believe it worked excellently, if I do say so myself.

This can be varied with any type of salsa that you want or if you were feeling extra adventurous you could cover it in a delicious mole.  I went with a fairly straightforward salsa that would work warm or cold and be good with anything.  Feel free to try a salsa verde or maybe a chipotle salsa if you dig the heat!

To accompany this dish I'm going with some Pulley, specifically "Crawl" because that tune has been stuck in my head and maybe this act will appease whatever gods are responsible for that sort of situation. - justin

Mexican Meatballs
Time: 2 hrs
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4-6

Salsa:

• 4 whole medium tomatoes, halved
• 2 Poblano peppers, halved and deseeded
• 2 Anaheim peppers, halved and deseeded
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tbsp salt
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tsp dried epazote
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp Caldo de Pollo (Mexican chicken bouillon with some herbs and spices)

Preheat oven to 425.   Arrange your halved tomatoes (cut side up) on a, oiled baking sheet along with the halved and cleaned peppers (cut side down).  Lightly brush peppers and tomatoes with 2 of the tbsp of olive oil.  Place in the preheated oven and roast for 40-50 minutes.  Cover with foil when they are done and let them sit for 10 minutes to cool.  This will steam the skins and make them easier to remove.  When the veggies have rested the skins should simply pull off of the peppers and tomatoes.  Roughly chop them and set aside.

In a saucepan, add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and set burner to medium heat.  When hot, add the diced yellow onion and salt and let the onions sweat until translucent, roughly 7 minutes or so.  Add the chopped, roasted peppers and tomatoes, the lime zest and juice, the cilantro, the epazote, the Mexican oregano and the cumin.  Stir together thoroughly, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Disolve the caldo de pollo in the cup of water and add to the saucepan.  Stir to incorporate.  The salsa should be very chunky and a little watery at this point.  Simmer the water off to thicken it to your desired consistency.  If you would like a very silky, smooth salsa, use a blender to puree the mixture.  I prefer mine to be a little chunkier so I just gave it a couple quick pulses and called it good after simmering it for an hour or so while I made the rest of the meal.

Meatballs:

• 2 lbs ground beef (80/20 lean to fat ratio is best for these)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (about 1 large clove)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 whole green onions, chopped
• 2 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1 tsp dried epazote 
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• 2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 425.  I find that while the veggies for the salsa are roasting, it's a perfect time to make the meatball mixture and then the oven is already hot and ready to bake meatballs when the veggies come out and you are finishing the salsa.

Mix the breadcrumbs and the milk and let sit for five minutes to absorb.  Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix together.  Roll into golfball sized balls and place equidistantly from each other on a lightly oiled sheet pan.  It should make roughly 30-35 balls.  Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.  Meatball diameter will determine your total time but check one of the bigger ones after 20 minutes and use that as a judge for how much longer you'll need.  You want medium, not well done.

Tostones: 

• Frying set up, either a deep fryer or a skillet and a enough frying oil to be a couple inches deep
• 2 large plantains, peeled and sliced into 2 inch rounds

Heat oil to 350 degrees.  Fry enough of your plantains so as to not crowd your oil.  Do a couple of batches if you need to or your oil will cool and they will turn out greasier than you want.  Fry them for 2 minutes per side (or 2 minutes total if you have them completely immersed in oil).  Remove from oil and allow to cool for a couple minutes.  Set them upright and smash them with your hand or a spoon so that they squish into a sort of disk.  Fry again for 2 more minutes per side and remove to drain excess oil.  Salt immediately and set aside.

Completion: 

At this point I placed the salsa on the bottom of a plate, set the tostones in the salsa like little boats and served the meatballs resting on top of the tostones, like so:

However, you could do the salsa over the meatballs or tostones on the side or whatever you like.

That's A Spicy-a Meataballa!

Alright, I'll admit it. We were watching Disney's Lady & the Tramp.  We still have hearts, man.  Souls.  Feelings.  We don't always want to punch some smarts into people.  Sometimes we just want to watch some freakin' feel good Disney movies!  And laugh at the awful, ethnic stereotypes - "Whattsa matta for you, Joe!  I break-a your face!"  That's family entertainment!  And also a direct quote from the movie.  And then we craved meatballs!  So we made them.

We try meatballs anywhere we can... and we are disappointed, every time.  Too dry.  Too mealy.  Too big.  Too bland.  Well I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these are the best meatballs I've ever had.  They were perfect (for what we like).  I spiced the hell out of these balls, because Justin made the sauce, and he was feeling like a less-seasoned marinara than we usually make, so they balanced each other out perfectly.  The combo was killer.  And we're not big on pasta... we eat it now and then, but we don't crave it, so we just ate our Meatballs and Marinara with some rustic buttered bread.

And Fugazi... need I say more? "Waiting Room".  It's my favourite Fugazi song; I'm not alone there.  But I'm not alone there for a reason. -jen

BASIC MARINARA

• 2 cans (28oz each) whole, peeled tomatoes
• 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped celery greens
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2-3 tablespoons minced garlic (depending on taste)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1 can (14oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 shot (1.5 oz) dry Sherry
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Empty whole tomatoes into a large bowl and break them down with your hands so that they're crushed.  (Careful, they squirt!  Wear an apron or be prepared!)  Set aside.

In a stock pot, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil to medium-high heat.  Add chopped onion and celery greens and sweat until onion is translucent, 3-5 minutes.  Then add minced garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook an additional 2 minutes.  Add fresh basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaves, salt and black pepper.  Cook another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Then add Marsala and let reduce for a couple of minutes.  Add the tomato sauce and whole tomatoes that were crushed earlier.  Simmer, covered, for 1 hour, then blend with a stick/immersion blender or pour into food processor and carefully blend (it's hot!) and return to stock pot.

Simmer uncovered for an additional 1.5 hours (You can start making your meatballs here).  Ten minutes before it's done, add Sherry and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.  (For a spicier, more seasoned version of this sauce, we just add an additional 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning and 1 teaspoon Thudium's Herb Seasoning.)

Note: All the simmering and cooking down isn't absolutely necessary if you're in a hurry, but it definitely helps the flavour of your sauce if you have the time.

SPICY MEATBALLS

• 3 slices bread, cubed small
• 1 cup milk
• 1.5 pounds 15/85 ground beef (we used Angus beef, yum)
• 1.5 pounds Italian sausage
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Romano or Asiago)
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 4 teaspoons dry Italian seasoning (or a variation or oregano, thyme, rosemary)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•  1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, soak bread and milk.  In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients.  Squeeze out some of the milk from the bread and crumble the soaked bread into the mixture, just mixing until combined.  Refrigerate for about an hour.  Place a baking rack over a baking sheet and roll meatballs about 2" in diameter.  Place on rack and partially bake meatballs for 12 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees F.


Using tongs, place the hot meatballs into the simmering marinara and cook for another 15 minutes or until internal temperature of meatballs reaches 140 degrees F.  (If you want to bake the meatballs in the oven until completely cooked through because you won't be cooking them in sauce, bake for a total of 20-25 minutes.)