Swedish Meatballs

... for a small crowd or a family of five (and a half) with a lot of leftovers.

I love meatballs. However, I've rarely made them myself but I've had many delicious homemade ones at friends' and family's homes. I always assumed they were far more work than they actually are. I mean, they're a little work but not too bad. And definitely worth it.

I made these the other night and everyone really liked them. (I loved them. My husband said he prefers barbecue meatballs, but said he thought these were good too. No surprise there as he generally prefers red sauce and I prefer white.)

I came across the recipe for these Paleo style meatballs on the Chowstalker site. Have you checked out Chowstalker? It's my new favorite site for finding recipes now that we're eating (mostly) grain-free and (mostly) sugar-free. It's the Paleo/Grain-Free/Gluten-Free version of Foodgawker. With the rise in gluten-intolerance, allergies, and increasing awareness of the downfalls of modern-day wheat, it's a great addition to the recipe sites out there.

I didn't get started on supper until super late the evening I made these (as tends to be the 'norm' around here). Aria started fussing to be fed when I was nearly finished rolling these out so the kids distracted her while I quickly finished up before nursing her. While I was feeding her, Abram asked me when I was planning to put in the eggs...

The eggs...!

I had completely forgotten to incorporate the eggs before rolling out all four pounds of ground beef and had to start all over with the rolling! Needless to say, it was a huge relief, after I'd cooked these, to taste them and absolutely love them after all that trouble. {I would have been so disappointed had we not liked them after all that!} I served ours with rice (not pictured).

I love to cook and I love to eat but I'm relatively new to gluten-free cooking in the sense of using substitute flours in recipes so I'm really hoping to find a whole new arsenal of dinner recipes for us since many of our old favorites I no longer make. These are definitely a keeper! And, if you prefer it, feel free to make them with regular flour. They should turn out just fine that way

I'd never used coconut flour in anything prior to this. I love coconut and coconut flavored foods but I'm not a fan, or haven't found the right dishes anyway, of savory flavored things with coconut. I didn't hesitate to try these because it was such a small amount of flour in the grand scheme of things. I used Bob's Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour and these did not taste like coconut at all. They were simply savory and delicious and very flavorful. If you try them, I hope you like them as much as I did!

Meatballs adapted from here. Sauce adapted from here.

Swedish Meatballs - Gluten-Free

Meatballs:
4 lbs. grass-fed ground beef
2 medium/large onions, finely chopped
2 T ghee or butter
4 T coconut flour
3 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Several tablespoons of ghee or butter for pan searing.

Please note: I'm so sorry to anyone who made this when I had the error of 1/2 c. beef broth as opposed to the 1 1/2 c.! The sauce portion is correct now.

Sauce:
3 T butter
3 T rice flour
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 1/2 T raw honey
2 small bay leaves
3/4 c. heavy cream (I used cream from organic, raw milk.)
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the meatballs:

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the ghee or butter and add the onions. (I like to allow it to cook a little until it just begins to brown and caramelize before adding the onions.) Cook the onions, stirring them frequently until they become opaque. Remove them from the skillet, and set aside to cool.

In a small dish or ramekin, combine all of the dry ingredients for the meatballs (coconut flour, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, and allspice).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef with the onions, the dry ingredients, and the eggs. Gently mix everything together with your hands until all of the seasonings are incorporated. Shape into meatballs. (Mine were approximately 2-inches and I laid them out on a parchment lined baking sheet as I rolled them.)

Preheat oven to 400° F and line a large baking sheet pan (or two if you want to cook them all at once*) with parchment paper. (*I did two batches so I could bake some while I was browning the rest of mine.)

In the large skillet used for the onions, melt a couple of tablespoons of ghee or butter over medium heat. (I just test for readiness by sprinkling a drop or two of water on it. When it sizzles nicely, it's ready.) You want to sear the exterior of each meatball so they're nice and brown - so you want your pan to be pretty hot (but not too hot). It will take several minutes to sear each batch. Somewhere around the 10 minute mark, is my best guess for time on these. I add some butter after a couple of batches or so. I have a large cast iron skillet I use and can fit quite a few on it at a time. I just space the meatballs with an inch or so of room between each one and use long metal tongs to flip them.

Place the browned meatballs on the prepared baking pan(s) and bake them in the oven for about 15 minutes, until cooked through and brown in the middle. Serve with the sauce (below).

Sauce:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the rice flour and cook for a minute or so to lightly brown it.

Stir in the beef broth, honey and bay leaves; turn the heat up slightly and simmer for a few minutes. The gravy will begin to thicken as it heats up. Add the cream and allow to heat up for several more minutes (using care not to boil it). Add the sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

I like a lot of freshly ground pepper in white sauces and gravies. Don't be shy about it. You should be able to see it all over in the sauce. This gives it the nice zippy (but not too spicy) flavor you want. I forgot to remember how much salt I used... maybe about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp...

And if you haven't checked them out yet, here are the links to Chowstalker and Dessertstalker!:

 

Comments

[yvonne]

these sound so good. i chuckled at the part about leaving out the egg cuz i remember doing that too. thanx for the tip on the chowstalker i'll have to pass it on.

[Buttoni]

Those sound yummy! I've eaten these before, but have never made them myself. I'll have to try these out!

[RoseAnne]

Just made these for the game tonight - can't wait to try them. My husband keeps talking about how good they smell!

[Debra]

These were fantastic. I made 1/4 the recipe but doubled the sauce, left out most of the salt and used all purpose flour in the sauce (just because I don't have rice flour or a suitable alternative flour). We had them served with rice, baked squash and green beans. Everybody enjoyed.