Monday, March 29, 2010

Swedish Meatballs (except with chicken)


This is yet again another Cooking Light recipe that I made some adjustments to and have adopted as a regular in our dinner rotations.

The recipe calls for bread crumbs. Because I use bread crumbs regularly, I keep them in my freezer. Whenever I have a few slices of bread that are almost ready to be thrown out, I'll put it in the food processor and freeze them so I can easily use them later.

The recipe also calls for ground chicken. Although it is pretty easy to pick up a pound of ground chicken from the grocery store, I prefer to put chicken breasts in the food processor. It makes a huge difference. Typically, you can get three breasts in a package which is almost 3 pounds. I'll just grind the entire package, split it, use half and freeze the other half.

If you start heating the water for the noodles after you've put browned all the meatballs, it usually turns out timed perfectly. Well, at least with my stovetop. If you have a better range, it might not work out as accurately :) Okay, enough with my tips. On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup bread crumbs
1 pound ground chicken breast
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons parsley (I use dry although it would probably taste better if you used fresh)
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon canola oil
1-14 oz. can fat free chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup fat-free sour cream
12-16 oz. wide egg noodles

Directions:
1. Place bread crumbs, chicken, 1/2 teaspoon salt, nutmeg, pepper and egg white in bowl. Stir until combined. Shape into small 1-inch meatballs.
2. Heat oil in large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add meatballs. Brown on all sides. Remove meatballs from pan.


3. Reserve a some of the chicken broth in a small bowl. Pour the rest into the pan. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to pan. Add the flour (for thicker sauce, add more flour) to the reserved chicken broth and stir well. Pour the flour-chicken broth mixture into the pan. Stir with a whisk until well combined. Bring to a boil and cook for a minute or until slightly thickened.


4. Stir in sour cream and return the meatballs to the pan. Reduce heat to meadium-low. Cook for 10 minutes or until meatballs are done and sauce has thickened.



3 comments:

Jessie said...

I tried this recipe and it was the first and only successful meatball dinner I've ever made! Thanks so much.

Jessie said...

By first, I meant first that worked. I've tried and failed with meatballs in the past. I just didn't think I'd been clear enough there. Not that anyone cares.

The Farmer's Wife said...

Yumm I love swedish meatballs. Can't wait to try your recipe!