Week 23

Sunday January 17th, 2010

Swedish Meatballs, Mint Chocolate Mousse Dessert

I chose the Swedish meatball recipe to try out some ground turkey. Years ago, when Isabel was a weee thing, I often cooked with ground turkey as a substitute for ground beef. Then, one day I bought a different brand. It was disgusting, and unfortunately I never tried it again. That's quite pathetic, as I think about it. Recently, with the ever tightening waistline in my jeans, I decided to look for opportunities to make some changes in our food consumption. This recipe called for a couple different kinds of meat, to which I substituted ground beef and ground turkey. It resulted in light and tasty meatballs. Normally I don't like meatballs much-- too much meat. I am happy to report that ground turkey has earned back it's place again in our diet.

As for dessert. This one looked so good to me. I have a weakness for Chocolate and Mint above and beyond my weakness for any and all things containing sugar. Usually I do not plan ahead enough to make a dessert such as this. The start to finish time is over 5 hours since the ice cream has to reset. This meant starting it in the morning so it would have time to set while we were at church. Everything went well smoothly and we enjoyed having dessert all ready for us when we came home.

Jordan -What a poser!

He is head dessert chef today!

Loading up the Ninja with the nilla wafers. No more pounding crackers inside a ziploc with a meat mallet anymore! Wahoo!

They are crushed to perfection in seconds

Spooning the Crust into the pan

While we were cooking the kids took turns exploring their new "Toy"-- their very own Note Book laptop. JJ had a work party the night before and we won first prize in the raffle. I was excited because we had been wanting to get them a computer since we NEVER let them use our laptops-- With very good reason!!! Our old keyboard still has paper clips stuffed in between the keys that I can't get out. Actually, that wasn't even the original key board, that was an old one my friend gave me to replace the keyboard they drowned with water! So, they know this is their shot to have a computer. If they mess it up we aren't replacing it!

Isabel's turn to help while head chef is playing games on PBS kids.

Note to self-- make sure pan is completely even in the freezer as the dessert sets--OOPs!

It looks like the tide is going out!

It was cute, while I smoothed the ice cream over the baked filling before putting it in the freezer, Isabel watched me intently with a perplexed look on her face. She finally admitted, "I just don't understand how you are going to bake ice-cream in the oven"

Teaching Isabel how to chop and onion without chopping her fingers.

Carrot Swords

Rolling Meatballs

Laney gave the meatballs thumbs down, but I think she actually hadn't even tasted them yet when this was taken. She ended up changing her mind later.

Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients

2 slices fresh white bread

1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 pound ground chuck (I used ground beef)

3/4 pound ground pork (I used ground turkey)

2 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup all-purpose flour3 cups beef broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

DirectionsPreheat oven to 200 degrees F.Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread and milk mixture, ground chuck, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes.Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat, or in an electric skillet set to 250 degrees F. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs to an ovenproof dish using a slotted spoon and place in the warmed oven.Once all of the meatballs are cooked, decrease the heat to low and add the flour to the pan or skillet. Whisk until lightly browned, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and whisk until sauce begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Remove the meatballs from the oven, cover with the gravy and serve. (We poured it over bow tie pasta.)

Mint Chocolate Mousse Dessert

Crust

2 cups Vanilla Wafers

1/2 Cup butter melted

Filling

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate (melted)

3 eggs

1/2 gallon mint ice cream ( used 1.5 quart container)

Sauce

4 oz. semi sweet chocolate

(chopped)1/3 butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 -5 oz. (2/3 cup) can evaporated milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.Mix crushed wafers with butter and press into bottom of ungreased 9x13 pan. bake @ 350 for 10 min. or until golden brown. Combine filling ingredients (except ice-cream) and beat until smooth. Poor over partially baked crust. Bake @ 350 for 12-15 min or until set. Cool completely.soften ice cream enough to spread over filling and crust. Cover with foil and freeze 4 hours or until firm. Just before serving. Combine sauce ingredients in a pan (except for vanilla) and bring to boil stirring constantly. reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let dessert stand at room temp. for a few minutes before cutting. Spoon sauce over top.

Review:

This recipe, can be difficult for the planning challenged, such as myself. But if you can manage to break the bonds of procrastination, it is well worth the effort. This was incredibly tasty. Even JJ (a non dessert guy) helped himself to a piece each night we had it.