Swedish Meatballs

I think meatballs are great.  I rarely make them though, as they are a lot of work in my eyes and it's something that that never gets on my kitchen "to-do" list often.  However, my co-worker went to Sweden and I asked him to bring me some Lingonberry jam back, so this was the opportunity to make some balls!

I based my recipe on this one, with a couple of changes.  I used all-spice with nutmeg for the seasoning and I only used a couple slices of bread.  I used Becel margarine instead of butter.  I also only used egg whites in place of the 2 eggs the recipe called for the binder.  I tried to buy "no yolk" egg noodles but I couldn't find them at the 2 grocery stores I had time to go to today, so I bought organic, free range egg noodles instead.

I started by grating and sauteing the onion.  I used a sweet onion.  I set it aside to cool.

I soaked the bread in the milk and then broke it up and mixed the onion with it when cool.

I added the spices including some white pepper.  I used freshly grated nutmeg on a microplane (it really makes a difference).  I mixed the pork and hamburger with everything.  I also added a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce - I just couldn't imagine not doing that...

At this point, I really thought about baking them instead, I really wanted to except it was so hot outside today and I really didn't want to turn the oven on, so I stuck to the recipe.  I debated over  a melon baller and an ice cream scoop and eventually decided on the ice cream one.  I got 35 meatballs which was slightly bigger than the recipe called for, but I didn't want to be frying batches all night...

I only filled it until the spoon was full, no more - level and not overflowing.  I scooped the meat onto a baking sheet - plop, rinse scoop, plop, rinse scoop, plop... I dipped the scoop in cold water between each spoonful.

When that was done, I wet my hands with cold water and rolled them all into balls.  Roll, rinse hands, roll, rinse hands, roll...This is the time consuming thing of meatballs that I'm not a fan of.

I got my biggest frying pan out and added some Becel and olive oil.  I usually always use pure butter but because of a slight cholesterol spike, I'm back to margarine for a while.  And probably not much shellfish either (I think that's what caused this, actually) but that is another subject...

I put half the balls in.  When browned - I didn't cook fully, just browned them,  I moved to a bowl and finished the last batch.  While browning, I chopped some parsley and boiled egg noodles.

When the meatballs were done, I added more Becel and the flour and made a roux.  I added the beef broth next and thickened it, then added the sour cream and stirred.  I added a couple tablespoons of lingonberry, a bit of parsley, stirred and put the meatballs back in.  I simmered until heated and cooked through.

I had mine without egg noodles, just the meatballs and some lingonberry jam.  7 servings of 5 meatballs each - it worked out well for "people at work tasters", lunch and dinner tomorrow. Everyone else got noodles, jam and a garnish of parsley.

Pretty good, a lot of work and I didn't think the payoff was all that great, but a meatball is a meatball and I can't refuse.  I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't make it.  Better done a weekend, methinks.  ;)  I really liked the jam though - good stuff!