Baked Swedish Meatballs (tyler Florence)

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumb (i used french bread)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 shallots, minced (i used red onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed, toasted and ground
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 lb ground beef (i used only beef)
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, plus
• extra fresh parsley, for garnishing dish
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (i used dried) or 1/2 teaspoon dried dill (i used dried)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup lingonberry preserves or 1/4 cup red currant jam

Recipe

• 1 in a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and the milk; stir with a fork and let stand for 5 minutes.
• 2 put 3 tablespoons of the butter in a small skillet and let it melt over medium heat.
• 3 add the shallots, garlic, and caraway; season with salt and pepper.
• 4 saute until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes.
• 5 put the ground beef and lamb in a large bowl.
• 6 add the sweated shallot mixture, egg, parsley, and dill; season with salt and pepper.
• 7 squeeze the milk out of the bread (i omitted this step) and add the bread to the meat mixture, and mix well using your hands.
• 8 pinch off about 1/2 cup worth of the meat mixture and roll it around in your moistened hands to shape it into a cue ball-sized meatball.
• 9 continue forming the meatballs and putting them on a platter; there should be about 20 meatballs.
• 10 (i formed my meatballs the night before and let rest in refrigerator to develop the flavor).
• 11 melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over moderate heat.
• 12 when the foam starts to subside, add the meatballs in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan.
• 13 saute the meatballs until well-browned on all sides, about 7 minutes total.
• 14 remove the meatballs to a platter lined with paper towels as they are done.
• 15 (i baked mine on a foil-lined pan in my convection oven at 400 degrees until they were brown. they were so juicy that i'm always going to do it that way, and no mess!).
• 16 discard most of the fat from the skillet and return it to the heat.
• 17 add the remaining tablespoon of butter and swirl it around to coat the pan.
• 18 sprinkle in the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve into the fat.
• 19 pour in the chicken broth, and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen the bits from the bottom of the pan.
• 20 simmer and stir until the liquid is reduced and a sauce starts to form;.
• 21 season with salt and pepper.
• 22 lower the heat and stir in the sour cream.
• 23 return the meatballs to the sauce and stir in 1/4 cup of the lingonberry jam until combined.
• 24 simmer until the sauce thickens slightly and the meatballs are heated through, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• 25 shower with chopped parsley and transfer to a serving bowl.
• 26 serve the swedish meatballs with additional lingonberry jam on the side.