Swedish meatballs

I made these meatballs on Easter weekend, and I'm finally posting them. This recipe came via ivillage.com's daily What's For Dinner newsletter (full disclosure: I'm the editor of this particular newsletter, so I may be a bit partial to some of the recipe selections).

I made some minor tweaks to the recipe, such as using a mix of pork, veal, and beef and I used regular, unseasoned bread crumbs, which I added to the meat along with the milk. Otherwise, the recipe worked out great, and my five-year-old daughter gobbled them up. That alone is the best review a recipe can get. (Have you noticed that pictures of creamy sauces tend to be bit less appetizing than the food really is? Don't hold this picture against me, I'm figuring out the art of food photography.)

Here's the recipe.

1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely minced
1/3 pound ground sirloin

1/3 pound ground pork

1/3 pound ground veal
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons flour

2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup sour cream

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat and slowly cook the onion until tender and translucent, not brown, about 6 to 7 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, milk, meat, salt, allspice, pepper and nutmeg.

Stir the onions into the meat mixture and set the skillet aside without washing it.

Roll the meat into tiny meatballs, about 1 inch in diameter (if you wet your hands first, you won't end up with clumps of meat between your fingers).

Heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter in the skillet over medium heat and cook the meatballs in batches, adding a bit more butter as needed, until browned all over. (Don’t worry about cooking them through; just brown them lightly.) As the meatballs cook, lift them into a bowl to make room for the next batch.

Meanwhile, whisk the flour and broth in a medium bowl.

When all the meatballs are browned, return them to the skillet and slowly pour in the broth and bring to a simmer. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are cooked through. Stir in the sour cream and bring to a simmer to thicken the sauce a bit more. (You may want to take the meatballs out of the pan and put them in a serving bowl before stirring the sour cream through the sauce, just to make room for stirring. Then pour the sauce over the meatballs in the bowl.)

Serve with egg noodles or mashed potatoes and lignonberry sauce.