Monday, January 31, 2011

Shepherdess Swedish Meatballs



One of the many things I love about meatballs, is that they can be frozen. Back in December I made Swedish Meatballs, after looking at several recipes and freezing half of the uncooked meatballs for another time. Yesterday, when I decided to make Swedish meatballs again, the little bag of them was there in the freezer, and I was more than halfway done already. In December I'd made them in a Dutch oven on top of the stove like this (click here), and let them simmer for a good half hour. Yesterday, I wanted to put the meatballs on to cook and go do OTHER STUFF, so I made them in the crock-pot. This worked wonderfully. I was able to spend the afternoon weeding and knitting while they were cooking unattended, and when it was time for dinner all I needed to do was cook some egg noodles.



Shepherdess Crock-pot Swedish Meatballs

Brown meatballs (thawed or unthawed frozen), either on an oiled sheet in the oven, or in bit of oil or butter in a skillet. I must admit that I browned these in a bit of bacon fat left in the caste iron skillet from breakfast, which (besides confessing to using bacon fat here) means it was past noon and the breakfast dishes were still lying about, but my motto for weeding is, weed first and do dishes after, gloves or no gloves, which is the only way I seem to be able to get my hands reasonably clean.

Put the browned (and drained) meatballs into the crock. Drain all but 1 T. fat from skillet and add 2 T. flour to make a roux. Stir in 3 c. lamb stock (or beef stock) to make a thin gravy.

Add:
3/4 t. salt
1 t. dill weed
dash allspice
1 T. ketchup or tomato paste
glug or two Worcestershire Sauce

Pour gravy over meatballs in crock-pot. Cook low 3-4 hours. To serve, add 1/2 c. sour cream and stir in. Meanwhile, cook 8 oz egg noodles until done, drain and stir into meatballs. Serve with a vegetable or salad. A bit of currant jelly added would be traditional, but I had a glass of currant wine after dinner instead.

1 comment:

  1. Yum. Is it something in the weather?
    I made swedish deer balls last night!
    It has never occurred to me to make them in the crock pot. I will try it this way next time.

    ReplyDelete