Swedish Meatballs

 

Swedish Meatballs
Author: Cibola Farms Kitchen
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
  • Meatballs
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 onion, peeled, grated
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 4-5 slices of bread, bread cut into pieces (or panko or bread crumbs)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 pounds ground buffalo
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or allspice)
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • Sauce
  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 quart stock
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • Salt
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a sauté pan on medium-high heat. Stir in the grated onion and cook until translucent and softened, 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  2. Place the pieces of bread in a large bowl and mix with the milk. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes for the bread to absorb all of the milk. Once the bread has soaked up the milk put the bread in a food processor and pulse until it has been completely broken up. Return the pulverized milk soaked bread to the bowl.
  3. Stir the cooled onions into the milk bread mixture. Add the eggs, ground pork and buffalo, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cardamom. Use your hands to mix everything together until well combined.
  4. Use your hands to form the meatballs about an inch-thick and place them on a plate or sheet pan. This recipe should make about 40 meatballs.
  5. Heat 6 Tbsp. of butter in a large sauté pan on medium heat. When the butter is melted and foamy, start adding some meatballs to the pan. Working in batches as to not crowd the pan, slowly brown the meatballs on all sides. Handle the meatballs gently so they do not break apart as you turn them.
  6. Once the meatballs have browned on all sides, remove them from the pan and set aside. You do not need to cook the meatballs all the way through at this point, you only need to brown them. You’ll finish cooking the meatballs in the sauce later.
  7. Once you have removed the meatballs from the pan, drain some of the oil that has accumulated from the pork fat and butter so that you have about 6 tablespoons left in the pan. You’ll use this oil to make the sauce.
  8. To make the sauce, first make the roux. Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat. Slowly whisk in the flour. Stir until smooth. Continue to stir, allowing the flour mixture to cook, several minutes, until the roux is the color of coffee-with-cream. When the roux has cooked to a nice shade of light brown, slowly add the stock to the roux, stirring as you add the stock. The stock will sputter at first and the roux may seize up, but keep adding the stock slowly and keep stirring. Eventually the sauce will loosen and become silky. If the sauce is too thick, then add some water or white wine to thin.
  9. Return the meatballs to the pan with the sauce and lower the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a serving dish to serve. Stir in the sour cream and heavy cream.
  10. Serve over rice or noodles. Traditionally served with some sort of fruit jam compote.