The other day my husband requested Swedish meatballs for dinner. Having thought I had this recipe down pat, I proceeded to make meatballs seasoned with nutmeg and allspice, coated in a delicious mushroom sour cream sauce. When my husband sat down for dinner he asked, “Wait, did you make beef stroganoff?” I realized I made a sort of Frankensteined recipe. It was so good I thought I would share it.

Meatballs aren’t photogenic AT ALL, so here’s a meatball photo I took back in 2011. Trust me, this recipe was really really good.

Swedish Meatball Stroganoff

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 2 slices good white bread soaked in milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound raw Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoons allspice
• 3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup Marsala or white wine
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups frozen peas, thawed
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 pound egg noodles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. After the bread has soaked up the milk, squeeze out any excess liquid and break up the bread with your hands. Place into a Kitchen Aid mixer bowl along with the beef and Italian sausage. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high. Add the onions, salt and pepper and cook until onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool.

Add to the mixing bowl the eggs, allspice and nutmeg. When the onions have cooled, add to the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.

Form into golf ball-sized meatballs and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

Meanwhile, set a large salted pot of water on the stove to boil. Now we’ll make the sauce while the meatballs are baking and the noodle water is coming to a boil.

Add the butter to the same pan as you cooked the onions. Set to medium-high heat. Once butter is melted add the mushrooms and sauté until their moisture has evaporated and they start to brown, about 10 minutes. If there’s no more butter in the pan, add another tablespoon. Deglaze the pan with the marsala and let it bubble for a minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir. Cook for 1 minute.

Pour in the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer and let thicken. If it isn’t thick enough, make a slurry of 1 tablespoon flour with 1/2 cup cold chicken stock and pour that in.

Cook the noodles until al dente and drain. Remove meatballs from oven and set aside. Add the peas and sour cream to the sauce just before serving and heat until peas are hot.  Adjust sauce for salt.

Toss in the meatballs and coat them all over with sauce. Serve atop the egg noodles.