The Art of Cooking Meatballs and Roast Beef

[Jay Howard]

Most people relate meatballs with spaghetti or Swedish meatballs. Of
all the Swedish dishes the Swedish meatball is probably the most
famous. Meatballs were started as a way to use up leftovers and that
is why there is such a variety of recipes. Whatever meat was on hand
and a filler that was easily found for the meatballs was used. The
type of sauce was dictated by the family's taste preference. The basic
Swedish meatball recipe uses two pounds of lean ground meat as a base.
Most people use ground beef, but pork or veal is also acceptable. The
filler is used to give the meatballs the right consistency and is made
of two eggs, one cup of milk, cream, meat broth or water and ? cup of
flour or fine bread crumbs. Instead of the flour or bread crumbs some
recipes call for a cup of torn bread or mashed potatoes.
Now on to the seasoning, you add salt and pepper, minced onion, 1/4
teaspoon dry mustard, and either a 1/4 teaspoon of allspice or a 1/8
teaspoon of ground nutmeg. You mix the seasonings, ground meat and
filler using a mixer until it is all well blended. Take the mixture
and form it into 3/4" to 1 1/2" meatballs. You can use a scoop or do
it by hand. The two pounds of meat will make 30-150 meatballs, of
course the smaller the size the more you will have.
The next step is to pan fry the meatballs in 2-3 tablespoons of oil on
medium-high heat. Fill the pan half-full at a time and keep the pan
shaken to keep the meatballs turning and to prevent sticking. Each
batch will take 10 to 15 minutes. Once they are browned put them in a
dish and place the dish in a barely warm oven. This will keep them
warm until the sauce is prepared.
Since the Swedish is known for their love of rich food, we are going
to prepare a rich white sauce to pour over our meatballs. The sauce
requires 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, 1 1/2
cup of cream and ? cup of chicken broth or water. You can also add
fresh dill or parsley, but this is optional.
In a saucepan, put in the flour and butter, mix thoroughly over low
heat. Pour off the grease from the pan you cooked the meatballs in and
then rinse it with the water or chicken broth to loosen any bits of
meat left there. Pour the water or broth from the frying pan into the
saucepan with your flour and butter mixture. Bring this all to a boil
by increasing the heat. Let the sauce simmer until thickened. Now add
the dill or parsley, if desired. Put the meatballs into the sauce and
stir until all of them are thoroughly coated and heated, serve
immediately.
If you prefer roast beef to meatballs, the best roast is a nice chuck
roast since it is marbled with fat that gives it flavor. The drawback
to a chuck roast is that it can tend to be tough. This is easily
remedied though, by slow cooking it until it is tender.
A simple way to make a tender and flavorful roast it to sprinkle both
sides with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder before putting in a
foil lined roasting pan. Now cover the roast half way with water and
add 3-4 bay leaves. Seal top of the foil to keep the roast moist and
cook at 325 - 350 degrees for 4-5 hours depending on the size of the
roast. Once it is so tender that it is falling apart, put the meat on
a platter and pour the juices into a saucepan to thicken for gravy.
Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable or salad.