Overambitious Sunday #2: Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles

I have to admit to being a little bit in love with the idea of a big sit-down Sunday dinner. Our weekends are busy enough, often enough, that Sunday dinner often looks like the rest of the week, but I do appreciate those times when I can spend a little extra time in the kitchen making a bigger deal out of it. Anna's been sick and the boys were off at winter camp, so we spent a lot of time lounging around watching Brendan Fraser movies and making poor nutritional choices this weekend (she's noticeably improved today, so clearly this is a good strategy for whatever ails you). The pent-up energy translated itself into this dinner, rather than laundry or anything on my To-Do list. 

Our family loves anything resembling a meatball or fritter, so these are a big hit. There are two keys essential to Meatball Success: (1) buy a box of disposable rubber gloves at the hardware store and keep them in the kitchen, because smooshing raw meat is just gross; and (2) make a big batch so you can put some in the freezer for an emergency weeknight dinner. Making 4 pounds of meatballs really isn't twice as much work as making 2 pounds; grab a beer and sit down at the table with someone you want to visit with, and all those little meatballs will practically roll themselves. Our record is 16 pounds, which is far too much and translates into more beers than is probably good for you.  

This particular recipe has gone in and out of fashion a few times, but I was wandering through my recipe file today and it sounded just right for a cold winter night. We've been serving it over rice for the last couple of years - and that absolutely doesn't work. Based on the success of last week's fresh rice noodle experiment, I thought that fresh GF egg noodles were called for (bless the internet! I don't know how I used to cook without it). Halfway through, I realized that this was a stupid choice for a person with a rotator cuff injury. You would think that the memory of last week's extremely painful stir-fry would have stuck with me, but no..... 

It was worth it - there's nothing like egg noodles to soak up the extra sauce (if you're not eating GF, by all means by a bag of pre-made noodles). We froze half the meatballs, then everyone had seconds so I'm not sure what's for lunch tomorrow. I don't think fresh noodles are ever going to be a weeknight pick, but it made for an excellent Sunday dinner. 

Swedish Meatballs with Fresh Egg Noodles 

GF Egg Noodles 

1/2 c. tapioca flour 

1/2 c. + 3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp xanthan gum

3-4 eggs 

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil 

Meatballs 

1 cup bread crumbs (grind up some GF bread in your food processor, if you have any around - the resulting bread crumbs are vastly superior to anything you'll find at the grocery store)

1/2 cup onion, grated or pureed extremely fine in the food processor 

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground chicken or veal

water 

oil for frying 

Sauce 

2 cups beef stock

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp cornstarch (substitute potato starch if you're avoiding corn) 

Whisk the dry ingredients for the noodles in a medium bowl. Whisk 3 of the eggs and the oil together in a small bowl, then pour into the dry ingredients. WARNING: this is going to look unbelievably horrible as you start to mix it together (use your hands, it's easier). If it's very dry and crumbly, add the fourth egg; you might need another tablespoon or so of the cornstarch. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then turn it out onto a well-floured surface and start kneading (I used about a tablespoon of rice flour). At this point, the dough will look gloppy and chunky and slimy - hang in there. As you knead it, the dough will get smooth and much easier to work. 

Divide the dough into thirds, then roll each piece out on a well-floured surface (I used a tablespoon of rice flour for each batch). You want the dough to get as thin as you can possibly make it; I could see the grain of my giant wooden cutting board towards the end of the rolling time. When it's as thin as you can get it, use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut it into noodles. Wish that you hadn't donated that pasta maker to the church rummage sale a few years ago. Put the noodles on a plate and roll out the next piece of dough (a bench scraper or very thin spatula is very helpful here). Put a large pot of water on to boil and heat the oven to 375. 

Put the bread crumbs and spices for the meatballs into a large bowl. Add the ground meat and mix very well with your hands, adding a few tablespoons of water as you go. The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of water but a lot depends on your bread crumbs; if you're using the fine, dry, powdery ones from the grocery store, you'll use less water than you will if you've made your own fresh ones. Shape the meat mixture into 1-inch balls. 

Heat several tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs very well on all sides, then put in a baking pan; you might need to do this in batches. When all the meatballs are browned, put the baking dish into the oven to finish cooking for about 10 minutes. 

In the same skillet, combine the beef stock, Dijon mustard, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour over the meatballs in the oven (I turned the oven off at this point). 

Put the egg noodles into the boiling water a few at a time; they won't stick together but you don't want huge clumps. After about 3 minutes, start to check the noodles for doneness; recipes I've seen have called for anything from 3-12 minutes cooking time, so go with whatever suits your own taste. Ours took about 4 minutes. Drain the noodles and serve with the meatballs and sauce. Don't count on leftovers.