Friday, November 27, 2009

Swedish 'Meatballs' and Noodles!





















I recently visited the Bo De Duyen outlet store on Spadina, where I picked up a
bag of frozen 'meatballs'. If you never went to the restaurant while it was open,
they specialize in fake meat products like veggie "chicken drumsticks", fish balls
and nuggets. I'm not crazy about fake meats, and
generally avoid them, but I wanted to support the place because I feel that they make some pretty great food. So off I went with 8 frozen 'meatballs' and thoughts of Ikea floating through my head. I browsed a few recipes for Swedish meatballs and noodles, and this is what came out of it. The dish is not difficult, but took a good hour from start to finish. First I browned the meatballs on all sides on the stovetop. Then I transferred them to a baking dish and baked them, covered, at 350 degrees while I did the rest.
The sauce is basically onions, a pinch of sugar, and a few tbsp of balsamic vinegar, simmered gently, until the onions are soft. About 1 3/4 cup of vegetable stock is added, with the last quarter reserved and mixed with a few tbsp of flour. After the sauce begins to boil, the flour mi
x is added and it's simmered until thick.
I boiled some water for the noodles while I whisked the sauce, then cooked 3/4 of a package of egg noodles for about 10 minutes. When the sauce was thick, I removed it from the stove and added 1tbsp of sour cream and a solid squirt of hoisin sauce, then covered it to keep warm.
I tossed the noodles in the sauce, served the 'meatballs' on top and topped it all off with some Ikea Lingonberry sauce. Mmm! A little more subtle than the flavours that I'm used to, but still quite delicious.

No comments: