SG Archive: Swedish Meatballs
Eating Groovy
When I was a kid my parents entertained fairly often having dinner parties and cocktail parties. For a while they had a big garden party (not that we had what's usually meant by "garden") every summer and would invite as many as 50 guests.
With big parties the popular serving style of the era was the smorgasbord — a buffet where people would serve themselves and eat from trays on their laps. This was the time when aspic and crescent rolls were featured on every menu. It was also the time when Swedish Meatballs swimming in a wine sauce and served in a chafing dish were considered the last word in elegance.
And yes, they are pretty good — even in this century.
When I was a kid my parents entertained fairly often having dinner parties and cocktail parties. For a while they had a big garden party (not that we had what's usually meant by "garden") every summer and would invite as many as 50 guests.
With big parties the popular serving style of the era was the smorgasbord — a buffet where people would serve themselves and eat from trays on their laps. This was the time when aspic and crescent rolls were featured on every menu. It was also the time when Swedish Meatballs swimming in a wine sauce and served in a chafing dish were considered the last word in elegance.
It was the time when Swedish Meatballs swimming in a wine sauce and served in a chafing dish were considered the last word in elegance.
I haven't had a Swedish meatball since those days and never had more than one or two at a time back then (they were "for the guests"). So are they as good as I remembered? Or were my memories a fiction of a child's palate and imagined elegance?Swedish Meatballs
Serves 6.
Meatballs:
1 1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground pork
1 sm onion — finely minced
2 tsp oil
1 c fresh bread crumbs
2 egg lightly beaten
1/2 c beef broth
2 tbsp minced fresh dill
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 c beef stock
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/3 c red wine
salt and pepper to taste
Heat oven to 450F.
Sweat onion in oil until translucent. Mix all meatball ingredients together. Form mixture into 1" - 1.5" balls and arrange on a foil-covered baking sheet.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.
Melt butter in a 10" skillet over medium low heat. Whisk in flour and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently. Add beef stock and thyme and increase heat to medium. Continue stirring until sauce thickens. Stir in wine and salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce heat to medium low, add meatballs, and warm thoroughly.
Serve meatballs over buttered egg noodles seasoned with minced fresh dill.
And yes, they are pretty good — even in this century.
4 Comments:
I remember those! I'd forgotten how much I like Swedish meatballs.
That reminds me, I haven't had beef stroganoff in ages, either.
Growing up and when I was younger, meatballs or beef stroganoff with wide noodles were frequently served at dinner parties....along with cocktails and Dean Martin tunes!
((((smile))))
Vicki,
Ah! Now I get the Dean Martin reference.
My parents had frequent dinner parties for 8 - 12 every year, they also had at least a couple of cocktail parties for 20 - 25, and once a year they had a big garden/BBQ party for 35 - 40. Oddly I don't recall if they played music at those events, but if they did it would have been classical and not pop.
My mother ordered Swedish Meatballs as one of the hors d'oeuvres at my sisters wedding back in the late 60's. I remember how upset she was that the 4 teenaged boys invited cleaned out the whole hotel pan sized chafing dish of them in about 5 minutes.
Carol,
My mother was much more protective (but then she or Dad had actually made them). As I recall each child got one. And we adored them! Turns out my mother, eh, not so much. Perhaps we were eating her portion.
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