Hello, It's Been A Long Time

Yes, I have ignored my blog for nearly a year, but as a New Year's resolution (of sorts), I hope to make it a habit of blogging at least three times a week. Now if I can get myself to exercise three times a week, too, I would be GOLDEN.

So, on to the blogging......

One of my Rav/Tweet Friends (Poodlestar)asked me to give her my Swedish Meatball recipe,after I tweet-bragged that I was the Queen of the Swedish Meatball so I thought I would just post it here.

Please keep in mind, I am not Swedish, but I have been married for nearly 30 years....(CRAP! that long?) to a guy who is Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, so holidays with his folks usually means Lutefisk, which means I make Swedish Meatballs for the rest of the family that doesn't want to eat fish jello. Swedish Meatballs aren't particularly special or exotic, but they are damn good.

Swedish Meatballs
from The Everett Herald

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon finely chopped onion
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2/3 cup milk (whatever kind you use at your house)
3/4 pound ground beef
1/4 pound ground pork
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
Butter

Saute the onion in some butter (a tablespoon or so). In a bowl, soak the bread crumbs in the milk. Dump the sauted onion and the rest of the ingredients (except BUTTER) in the bowl with the bread and milk. Mix together with your hands until all the spices are distributed through the meat. Form into smallish meatballs (I use a cookie scoop) and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake the meatballs for 15 to 20 minutes. They will only be very lightly browned. (at this point, you can stop and freeze them or keep them in the fridge until you want to finish them.

The big finish:

In a large skillet, melt a generous amount of butter (the rest of the stick of butter that you didn't saute the onions in will be fine). Add the meatballs to the skillet and cook on medium heat until nicely browned all over. Remove the meatballs from the skillet and make a nice brown gravy from the bits of meat and pan drippings left in the pan. Take that gravy and dump over the meatballs and serve. If you are looking for a genuine Swedish experience, serve with boiled potatoes and a bit of lingonberry preserves.

Sorry there are no pictures of the finished product, but the meatballs never last long enough to be photographed.

And that's the Swedish Meatball recipe the more sane members of the family eat, when the inmates take over the asylum and demand Lutefisk. Fortunately, their insanity is rather short-lived and confined to holiday-time.

I have a couple other recipes I thought I'd post in future entries........Laters!