Yes, we did hit a high of 91 degrees today and yes, I did make Swedish Meatballs for dinner. I’ve wanted these for about a week now, but have also been on some antibiotics that have been doing a fantastic job of making me feel horrid, so I held off until I *knew* I’d feel good for dinner. And today I feel great, and still wanted them like nobody’s business. So, there you go.
My Mom used to make these with a packet mix from McCormick or Lowrys or one of those folks. Now, it was always tasty so I certainly can’t complain by any means. But, I’ve kind of gone a personal crusade for “packet-free food” – I truly think that just about anything you can make with a seasoning packet can be done just as well (if not better) on your own. The big hurdles I got over were chili & spaghetti sauce. (Don’t laugh!) Well, once I got those to a point where I was pleased with them, I decided it was time to tackle the Swedish Meatballs.
In scouring recipes across the internet, I found there are as many recipes for Swedish Meatballs as there are stars in the sky. (And I am still convinced if you asked someone from Sweden about them, they would look at you as though you’d lost your mind, the Ikea cafeteria menu notwithstanding.) My first go at it, I used this recipe from allrecipes.com, and of course had to make some variations on it…
It wasn’t bad by any means, but it was just ALL WRONG. I seem to recall throwing in a bit of beef stock in the sauce instead of water, and overall the sauce was just too “beefy” – like I said, not bad, but certainly not what Mom used to make. My brother ate it but readily admitted it just didn’t cut it for what we used to get. (And isn’t Mom always the yardstick by which we measure so many comfort foods?)
That night, I had the “OMG, I am such a dumbass” moment. Mom’s (and McCormick’s) sauce was a thickened *cream* sauce. I remember looking at my brother and saying, “Good lord, it’s nothing more than another variation on red-eye gravy, and I can do THAT.” I felt like an idiot.
So, tonight, it was me vs. the Swedes again. :) I stuck somewhat to the original meatball recipe I’d found, with more variations (it’s almost my meatloaf recipe, sans the 57 sauce, LOL.) and then when it came time for the sauce, it came out MUCH better than before, and damn close to what I remember my Mom making. Gotta love that. My brother says it’s not quite there, but very close, but neither one of us can quite figure it out (and I can’t find a damn McCormick package to see what other spices I’m missing in the sauce.)
So, here we go – Swedish Meatballs after the jump:
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