Jamie’s Recipes

We have now been in our house for one month. How quickly that month has gone too. Most of our boxes have been unpacked, we still have a few that have a mish-mash of things in them, nevertheless we are feeling quite settled. There are still things that I want to do to make this place feel like my own. Every room needs to be painted, the basement needs carpet (to cover the asbestos tiles), and we decorations to hang on the walls. I know this will all happen over time, unless we win the lottery then I am going to go shopping immediately (I can dream, right?). I love this house and am really excited to see it transform into ours over the next year.

One thing that I love about this house is that it is double the space of our previous apartment. Which means we actually have space to entertain, and I love entertaining. A couple weeks ago we had our first of hopefully many cocktail parties. Alex mixed up drinks popular in the 1960s and I made a bunch (too many) appetizers for our guests to enjoy.

One of the appetizers I made was Swedish Meatballs. These particular kind of meatballs are typically served in a creamy brown sauce. You could eat Swedish meatballs as a main course served with mashed potatoes, but they make the perfect appetizer served on a toothpick.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS
from Alton Brown, Good Eats with my own method
2 slices fresh white bread
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 pound ground chuck (I used 1 pound)
3/4 pound ground pork (I used 1 pound)
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup heavy cream

My method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Alton’s method (which I followed here): Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.

In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread and milk mixture, ground chuck, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes.

My method: Scoop up about 2T of the meat mixture. Roll into a ball (should be about the size of a ping-pong ball). Place the meatballs into a 9×13 baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes, turn meatballs, bake another 10 minutes. In order to make the gravy I added some of the drippings from the baking dish into my preheated (medium heat) cast iron skillet. I followed the rest of Alton’s directions for making the gravy.

Alton’s method: Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.

Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat, or in an electric skillet set to 250 degrees F. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove the meatballs to an ovenproof dish using a slotted spoon and place in the warmed oven.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked, decrease the heat to low and add the flour to the pan or skillet. Whisk until lightly browned, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and whisk until sauce begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Remove the meatballs from the oven, cover with the gravy and serve.

Enjoy as a tasty dinner with mashed potatoes or rice, or as a fun appetizer!

I was first introduced to this delicious dish through one of my friend Shamous. Growing up my mom never made meatballs to accompany spaghetti; instead she would just add browned burger to the sauce. This was good, but this was all I knew. My spaghetti life changed once I had a meatball. I learned how to make meatballs from him. I asked him for his recipe and it went something like this: hmm, you need bread crumbs (cracker crumbs work) the ones with Italian seasonings are great, eggs, and Parmesan cheese is nice. He didn’t know the amounts, he said he goes by feel and smell. Well thanks Shamous! My first attempt was no where near the tastiness of his, but I have been practicing and I think tonight I came up with a dang good recipe. Leftover pesto was the inspiration for these tasty meatballs.

Pesto Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
1/3 c Parmesan cheese
1/3 c plain bread crumbs
4 T pesto
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Add all ingredients to large bowl, mix well with your (clean) hands, add more breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet. Hand roll into golf ball size meatballs. Place into 9X13 in. pan, bake 25 minutes. Makes 20 meatballs.

Add to your favorite sauce, and simmer for 15 minutes. The longer you simmer the better the flavor. Tonight, we enjoyed our meatballs with a linguine and thin spaghetti mixture. It was delicious. However, Schwartz is still meatball king!