Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles

Yesterday, while spending my day daydreaming about what to cook, I sought out the desires of my husband and he said "cook something you've never done before."  Well, that's a loaded statement, but well received....I do realize as a chef, when you have writer's [cooker's] block, you tend to fall back on the same few dishes for dinner....so I guess after Justin's 700th chicken quesadilla on Wednesday night, he requested something different.  So with that, somehow my mind went to Swedish Meatballs.  I had never eaten a Swedish Meatball before, had no idea what they were supposed to taste like, or anything, but I decided it looked delicious and like something fun to make.  The best part of this dish is, you can cook the entire thing in one pot (minus making the egg noodles)....but on a weeknight, the less dish washing I need to do at the end of the night, the better.  So I looked up a bunch of recipes online to get a general idea of how to make the meatballs and the sauce that goes along with it, and came up with this recipe! It was fun to make and super delish!

For the Meatballs:

(yields about 16-18 meatballs)

1 1/4 lb Ground Turkey

1/2 cup Breadcrumbs

1/2 cup Onion, minced

3 Garlic Cloves, minced

1/2 tsp Salt

Pepper

1 Tbsp Fresh minced Parsley

1 tsp Thyme

> In a large saute pan, add a little Olive Oil and saute up your onion and garlic until cooked through.  Remove from heat at set aside to cool.

> In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (plus your onion and garlic) and mix with hands thoroughly.

> Form into 1 inch balls:

> In the same saute pan you cooked your onion/garlic in, add some Canola Oil, and pan fry your meatballs until golden brown on all sides (and cooked through in the middle).

> Once cooked, remove from saute pan, and set on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

For the Sauce:

1/2 Onion, finely chopped
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. Butter
1/4 cup Flour
3 Cups Beef Stock
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
Pepper

 > Still in that same saute pan you were using for the meatballs, saute up your onion and garlic (you can do this in the remaining Canola Oil from the meatballs - I found there was too much oil, so I dumped some out and kept just enough to saute the onion/garlic).

 > Move the onions/garlic to one side of your pan, and add the butter.

> Once your butter has melted, add in your flour and start to whisk.

 > Once your flour starts to turn a light brown you can add in your beef stock slowly while continuing to whisk.

> Once all your stock has been added, you can pour in your Heavy Cream. At this point you want to bring the sauce up to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.  Whisk often (the longer you simmer, the thicker the sauce will become).  Once you've reached your desired consistency, add your meatballs back in to reheat (about 5-8 minutes).

Serve your meatballs with a side of Egg Noodles (also covered in the sauce from the meatballs.)

This meal, as you can tell, is extremely easy to make - and is a huge crowd pleaser. Justin was very happy with the change in meal, and said "I wasn't sure if I was going to like this, but it's awesome." So it's been stated by the grand taste-test master :) ENJOY!