Swedish Meatballs

Every year Carl and I celebrate our ethnic heritage on Christmas Eve.  We make his great-grandmother's Swedish meatballs, along with some Hungarian dishes that I'll post later.  These meatballs are easy to make, come out great every time, and stay tasty as time passes.  What's not to like!  The original recipe left out a lot of details, so I've added in what we do to make it a bit easier to follow.

Ingredients for the meatballs:

• 3/4 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb. ground veal
• 1/4 lb. ground pork
• 1.5 cups bread crumbs
• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• dash of ground ginger
• dash of ground nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Soak bread crumbs in cream.  Sauté onion.  Mix all ingredients in KitchenAid mixer.  Form into 1 inch balls and bake on a cookie sheet for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.  

Ingredients for gravy:

• 2.5 cups beef broth
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Cook and stir in a sauce pan on medium heat until thick and bubbly, about 15 minutes.  Cook meatballs in gravy in slow cooker on high heat for 30 minutes, basting the meatballs often.