Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Swedish Meetballs

I truly miss the Budget Gourmet Swedish Meatballs frozen dinners I used to get for $1 when I was living in my first apartment. Oh well. These are better anyways.





TVP Meetballs
makes about 20 balls

Ingredients
2 cups TVP granules
1 ¾ cups veggie broth (or 1 bouillon cube dissolved in water)
1 medium yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
½ cup vital wheat gluten flour
1 tbsp Tamari or soy sauce
½ tsp fresh cracked black pepper
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
Additional oil for frying

Directions
Reconstitute TVP granules by placing them in a microwave safe bowl, pouring the broth over the granules, covering tightly with plastic wrap and placing them in the microwave for 5-6 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour boiling broth over the dry granules, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. In a skillet, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent and fragrant. About 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat mix in the flour, Tamari and all of the spices. Let sit until cool enough to handle. With your hands, form balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Use a lot of pressure when forming your balls, tee-hee, you don’t want them to fall apart. Lightly fry them in a small amount of oil, rolling them around in the pan to brown on all sides.


Swedish Meetballs
makes 4 big ol’ plates

what makes a meatball swedish? they serve them at IKEA? Anyhow, traditionally, swedish meatballs are served with a beef based brown gravy. i serve ‘em over fettuccine with a brown mushroom sauce.

Ingredients
1 prepared recipe of meetballs, above
1 pound of fettucine noodles, prepared in salted water according to package directions
1 8oz package of mushrooms (I buy mine pre-sliced!)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1 cup soymilk
½ cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp white miso
2 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:
Prepare meetballs and set aside. While the pasta is boiling, prepare the mushroom sauce. In a heavy bottomed skillet, on medium-high heat, saute the mushrooms in the olive oil until the have reduced in size by half. Add the margarine and continue to saute a few more minutes. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch and flour into the water and soymilk. Dissolve until there are NO LUMPS! Add the miso and tamari to the skillet. Sprinkle in the onion and garlic powder. Slowly add in the flour mixture, stirring constantly and continue to simmer until you reach your desired thickness. Drain the pasta and mix sauce into the noodles. Top with the meetballs and serve warm.

22 comments:

bazu said...

Yes, and I miss the Swedish meatballs at Ikea. (Well, now that I live in upstate NY and not southern California, I just miss Ikea, period) Your dish looks SO good!

By the way, I can't wait for your book to come out.

Jody from VegChic said...

Gadzooks, these look awesome. Found your blog via PPK. I'll be frequenting and here now that I know.

...and a new cookbook to add to my collection too.

...kristen... said...

holy cow joni...your cook book is gonna sell like vegan hot cakes! i'm so excited for you!

Anonymous said...

I used to love the $1 Budget Gourmet Swedish meatball dinner, too. Can't wait to try this!!

MeloMeals said...

I love your blog! Everything looks great.. I just created my own little slideshow too how cool!

MeloMeals said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I too found you via the PPK in the food porn section and let me say that those meatballs look absolutely delicious! I can't wait to try them out!

I'll definitely be watching you from now on!

Anonymous said...

There is basically nothing better than Swedish meat balls. And I should know, I'm Swedish! I'll definitely be trying these, I like trying different veg recipes for my beloved meatballs to see which of them will hit the spot. Growing up with a meat ball making mother has made me very picky though :)

Anonymous said...

this looks awesome!

mustardseed said...

I've had many disasters while frying, so is it possible to bake the meetballs in my microwave oven?

Joni Marie Newman said...

Mustard...SURE! I have actually done this myself. Cover them in plastic wrap, or place in a loosely covered container to keep them from drying out. They WILL be a little bit stringier and chewier this way, but it works. 1-2 minutes on high, depending on how many balls you have should do the trick...by the way, what have been your frying disasters? Are your balls falling apart? Are they too dry? Add a smidge of oil to your mix. Are they too wet? Add a little extra flour.

mustardseed said...

YES! I'm ready to cook these tomorrow, I got my TVP from wholefoods back in LA!

I don't know what chili powder is though, i don't think we have it in our supermarkets here, cause noone here knows what chili is.

Can I leave out the chili powder, or is it very important? I was thinking of increasing the other spices a little to replace it, or use another spice?

Joni Marie Newman said...

mustard, yes, you can leave the chili powder out. just increase the other spices as you said. should be fine. the chili powder just adds a little heat. good luck.

Joni Marie Newman said...

mustard, yes, you can leave the chili powder out. just increase the other spices as you said. should be fine. the chili powder just adds a little heat. good luck.

mustardseed said...

I made these today! They tasted good, but somehow my meetballs fell apart so easily...I cooked up a few balls nicely, but when I ate them they just crumbled immediately. And I can't really stick a fork in them...

Do I need to add more stock? Or should I throw in more gluten?

Joni Marie Newman said...

mustard,
did you bake them or fry them? I know you are a fan of baking instead of frying. Try baking them next time, for about 20 minutes at 350. I think this makes them "tougher" than the frying does. I did this last week and baked them in a glass casserole dish with the sauce in the dish with the meetballs, covered in foil. They came out great, and I served them as appetizers, and we were able to eat them with toothpicks. Plus, it's healthier too!

mustardseed said...

I fried them, but I have a feeling there's not enough of either stock or gluten anyway...I'll try baking them today.

mustardseed said...

Baked them this afternoon. No use they still fell apart once I touched them. Aargh what is wrong with me!!

Anonymous said...

Just so you know recipes cannot be copyrighted. They are only lists not creative works. The rest of the blog could be though. Also you cannot limit fair use for reviews and educational uses no matter what your little blurb says.

A. Perez said...

Actually you are wrong. They are considered something created by someone therefore they are original and can be copyrighted. It has allready been tested as there have been a few folks using others recipes as if it was theres and legal actions have resulted..

Aidan said...

Anyone know how well these freeze? They sound delicious, and I'd love to try making my own "meat"balls since I haven't been jazzed with storebought varieties, but I'd likely need to make them in advance. Thanks!

henrys said...

Boston Market Swedish Meatballs are the exact same as the old Budget Gourmet ones. Maybe even better

2012 Copyright/Permissions/Disclaimers

All recipes written by me, Joni Marie Newman, unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to refer to or link back to any of my recipes, but please ask for permission, and remember to give credit when reprinting recipes in their entirety. I do provide links to affiliate programs (such as Amazon) in which I receive a small commission for items purchased. I do not provide paid reviews. All reviews done on products or books are of my own unsolicited opinion. On occasion I may receive a book or product to review. I will note when this is the case, but rest assured, it will not affect the authenticity of my review. Thanks!--Joni