East European Meatballs Recipes

Steps:

• For the sauce: Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil, onion and garlic and sweat down until onion starts to give up some liquid, about 5 minutes. Deglaze pan with red wine, then reduce by half. Add tomatoes, parsley, mint, oregano, chile flakes and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Let simmer about 20 minutes.
• For the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Combine the almonds, parsley, raisins, mint, garlic powder, salt, pepper and chile flakes in a food processor. Pulse until fine. Transfer to a large bowl and add the oil and egg and mix well. Add beef and rice and blend. Portion into golf ball-sized meatballs and put on a sheet pan. Roast until done, 12 to 15 minutes. Pour sauce over meatballs and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper and combine. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine.
• Form into meatballs about 1" in diameter and place on a broiler pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center.
• Cool and use or freeze.

Steps:

• For the Norwegian meatballs: Small dice the yellow onions, or grate on a cheese grater on the largest holes. Warning: The cheese grater method is effective, but you'll likely have a tearful experience!
• Combine butter, 1 teaspoon salt and the grated onions in a small pot. Cook on medium-low until onions are browned and smelling sweet, about 1 hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• Chop up rye bread by hand or in a food processor until crumbly, but don't obliterate it. Add heavy cream, whole milk, and rye breadcrumbs to a pot. Heat gently on low until breadcrumbs have absorbed dairy and are softened and aromatic, then remove from the heat.
• Grind allspice berries and black peppercorns together in a spice grinder until fine.
• Combine rye breadcrumbs, eggs, flour, caramelized onions, remaining teaspoon salt and the spices in a large mixing bowl. Mix together until a smooth paste forms, then incorporate the beef and pork, squeezing with your fingers to make sure the starchy ingredients break up into the meat. At the same time, make sure not to overwork the mixture, as that would yield tough meatballs.
• Let stand at least 2 to 3 hours in the fridge, then roll into balls. We roll our meatballs to 1 1/2-ounces each, but all you need to do is make sure your meatballs are consistently-sized, so they cook at the same rate when they hit the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 550 degrees F, preferably on convection. Roast meatballs until well-browned on the outside, about 10 minutes in a convection oven or 12 minutes in a conventional oven.
• For the surkal: Thinly slice cabbage (1/4-inch thick) with a knife or mandoline. Avoid cutting into the core; you just want the purple leaves.
• Toss cabbage and salt together in a large bowl and allow to sit.
• Combine white sugar, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, ground caraway seed, bay leaf and 3 cups water in a large pot, then bring to a boil. Pour over cabbage and cover, then refrigerate for about 1 day. This will help lessen the harshness of the vinegars and soften the cabbage.
• After 24 to 36 hours, remove bay leaf and stir cabbage mixture to make sure caraway is well-distributed.
• Refrigerate until ready to eat.
• For the Gjetost cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a pot on medium heat and brown slightly. Add the flour and whisk well. Allow the roux to brown on medium-low heat until it reaches a rich golden brown color; it should smell nutty. This takes 20 to 30 minutes.
• Add the milk gradually in increments, whisking vigorously as you go. If you happen to have an immersion blender, run it through and get rid of any lumps. Reduce heat to low and watch carefully, whisking often and making sure the bottom doesn't burn. You want to see bubbles popping up to the surface every few seconds.
• Add the Madeira, white wine, salt and nutmeg. Cook until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 40 minutes, then grate the Gjetost cheese into the pot.
• Allow the sauce to cook gently and continue to thicken for about 1 1/2 hours. Be sure to whisk the bottom occasionally to get up any browned bits. If you have one, get your immersion blender in there and run it through until smooth and velvety. When finished, sauce should be the consistency of thick gravy and taste of toasty bread and goat cheese.
• Allow to cool for a half hour or so, then place in the fridge if you aren't going to use it right away.
• For the meatball lefse wrap: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• Halve 2 of the meatballs and roast until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Toast a piece of lefse in a nonstick pan or better yet, on a lefse griddle, on both sides. Remove toasted lefse to a cutting board. Begin layering: 1/2 cup shredded green cabbage, 1/2 cup surkal/pickled cabbage, the heated meatballs and finally about 1/3 cup warm Gjetost cheese sauce. Roll it tightly like a burrito. Cut in half if you're sharing, but you probably won't want to.

Steps:

• Chop the onions finely. Put a little canola oil in a pan, turn the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, add the onions and a pinch of salt, turn down the heat to low-medium and saute, covered, for about 10 mins, until yellow and soft. Simmer from time to time.
• Remove the onions from the pan, and put on a bowl to cool down.
• Grate the carrot using the coarse side of the grater. Squeeze well between your palms afterwards, to get rid of all the water.
• Grate the potatoes using the fine side of the grater. Squeeze well between your palms afterwards.
• Dunk the slices of bread (crust removed) in a little milk for 3 seconds and then squeeze well between palms to get rid of all the liquid.
• Mince the garlic cloves (you can remove the germs if you wish - in this way, the garlic smell won't stay with you 2 days afterwards).
• Remove the leaves from the parsley and dill, and finely chop them.
• Put the minced meat, potatoes, carrot, eggs, garlic, onion, bread slices, dill, parsley, bread crumbs, pepper in a large bowl. Mix everything together (with your hands or mixer). Add 1/2 Tbs salt, mix, and taste the composition. Add another 1/2 Tbs salt if you think it's needed. I normally put 1 Tbsp salt in total. Also, of course, you can add more pepper if you like it more spicy.
• Press the mixture against the pan and 'pat' it slightly with you hands to look uniform. Then cover the bowl and let the mixture rest in the fridge for 1 hour. This will firm up the mixture.
• Remove the mixture from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.
• Take 1 heaped Tblsp of mixture at a time, and with your hands wet, form the meatballs. Place the meatballs on a plate.
• In a deep medium sized frying pan, put canola oil until it's about 1.5 inches in height. Let the oil heat up on a medium-high heat. It's important that the pan is not too wide, so that the oil inside is quite deep in order to cover the meatballs well from all sides when cooking.
• When the oil is hot, turn down the heat to medium, and put the meatballs in the pan. Fry on one side for 4 mins, then turn on the other side, fry for 4 mins, then 1 min again on each side.
• Remove the meatballs from the pan and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil.
• That's it! I hope you'll like :).

Steps:

• Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 1/2 cup syrup. Set aside.
• Combine the ground round, breadcrumbs, milk, beaten egg, chopped onion, and chopped parsley. Mix well. Shape the mixture into 16 meatballs, inserting a pineapple chunk into the center of each meatball. Set any remaining pineapple chunks aside.
• Combine the butter, oil, and curry powder in a large skillet. Brown the meatballs in the butter mixture over medium heat until browned. Drain meatballs, discarding the drippings. Set aside and keep warm.
• Combine the reserved pineapple syrup, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, and soy sauce in a saucepan; stir well. Add pineapple chunks; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Serve meatballs with the sauce. (over rice as a main dish, or with toothpicks as an appetizer).

Steps:

• Combine the ground beef, egg, garlic, bread crumbs, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well mixed. Roll the mixture into egg-sized balls, and set aside.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs; cook until firm, and browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove meatballs from the skillet and pour out the fat.
• Bring the water to a boil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the tomato paste, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Add the cooked meatballs, and simmer in the tomato sauce for 5 to 10 minutes until completely cooked.

Steps:

• (you will need more than those 75ml oil. Those 75ml are about the quantity that gets absorbed in the process and therefore will be part of the nutrition info).
• Soak the bread in water (or milk) and the crush it into small crumbs.
• Mix together in a big bowl, by hand: the meat, the onion, the potato, the garlic, the bread and the egg (raw).
• Add salt and pepper to taste then add 2 teaspoons of paprika.
• Mix until homogenous.
• Oil hands and make small balls out of the meat mix (about 2. 5-3cm (1") in diameter).
• In a big cast-iron pan, pour sunflower oil to cover the pan bottom about 1cm (1/2") and heat it on medium high heat (level 6).
• When hot, roll the meatballs one by one through the flour and place them in the pan.
• Do not overcrowd the pan, as you will need space to turn the meatballs around.
• Turn the heat lower (to level 4-5) and keep an eye on the meatballs at all times as they can burn quickly.
• When they get a bit golden, turn them around.
• You will have to turn them at least 2 times until they are done (it will take about 15-20 minutes for one round).
• When done, they will have a light brown colour and they will be done on the inside too (you have to try them).
• Delish!

Steps:

• Half the cucumber lengthwise and slice thin. Half the onion and slice really thin. (I always use the mandolin).
• To a small bowl add : garlic, yogurt, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and sugar.
• Mix thoroughly with the cucumber and onion. Taste and adjust seasoning. You could eat it now or put in the fridge for a while.
• Before serving fold in the dill.