Delicious winter warmer
Wendy Hays
winter is certainly upon us. Woollen jumpers, padded jackets, beanies and gumboots have again become standard wear and homes have the clothes horse firmly positioned in front of the heater.
Many readers will have resurrected their soup pots and slow cookers.
Swedish Style Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce makes perfect winter fare.
Although I cook this recipe in an electric fry pan, I'm sure it would be equally successful cooked in your slow cooker.
The meatballs are rather fragile and tend to stick to the bottom of the pan when browning, so refrigerate them as long as possible before frying and turn them very carefully.
You can use any type of minced meat for this recipe and can use either fresh or dried breadcrumbs.
You will need slightly less cream if you use fresh breadcrumbs.
Serve over creamy mashed potato and sprinkle with freshly chopped dill if you have it growing in your garden.
Swedish Style Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce
Meatball Ingredients
• 3/4 C - 1 C breadcrumbs
• 500g pork and veal mince
• about 1/3 C cream to moisten
• a big pinch of nutmeg
• 1 onion - grated
• 1 egg - lightly beaten
• pepper and salt to taste
• 3 Tb. olive oil for frying
Sauce Ingredients
• 2 Tb butter
• 400g of button mushrooms - sliced
• 1 onion - peeled and chopped
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic - crushed
• 2 Tb flour
• 2 - 3 Tb Dijon mustard
• 1 ts turmeric
• 1 C - 2 C of water
• 1 large chicken stock cube
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh chopped dill to serve (optional)
Meatball Method
1. Mix all the meatball ingredients together. Roll into small balls and refrigerate as long as possible.
2. Brown the meatballs in hot olive oil.
3. Remove meatballs from the pan and set aside while you make the sauce.
Sauce Method
1. In the same pan, melt the butter and add the onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook until soft and lightly browned.
2. Stir in the flour, mustard, crumbled stock cube and turmeric.
3. Gently stir in about 1 C of water and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place the meatballs back into the pan on top of the sauce and simmer very gently until meatballs are cooked through.
5. Add more water when necessary and stir very gently when needed.
Enjoy!
