Oh I am in Love! Swedish Meatballs!

Hi sweeties,

Its been a while since I did a recipe post. The plethora of my food posts is just growing in number with no time to sit, write and post them, at hand. But unlike fashion, food never goes out of style haha 🙂

Most of my regular readers already know that I moved to a new apartment recently and we all know it initiates atleast a dozen trips to Ikea. On this particular occasion I was famished after work and hubby and I decided to grab a quick bite at their food court before digging our hands into some shopping. There was this beautiful poster board displaying Swedish meatball platter. My heart skipped a beat and I begged God that please please let these be made out of beef (I don’t eat pork) But deep down inside I already knew that most European Countries and US states sell minced meat products made out of pork instead of beef or chicken. Sadly upon inquiring my fears came true and I couldn’t enjoy any swedish meatballs. To add insult to injury while I was frolicking around Ikea the ad on their speaker kept playing stating “Have you tried our Swedish Meatballs yet? You don’t know the pleasure you’re missing so stop by….” or something on those lines.

Last night while thinking what to cook an idea hits me. If I can’t enjoy them outside then I can make them at home! I went through a gazillion top chefs’ recipes online and then decided to tweak several of them into one, to get the most ideal recipe for my taste. Now I have never had Swedish Meatballs before so I can’t vouch for the taste but I can atleast say this much- Swedish or not….they turned out scrumptious! Hubby was happy and I ate two of them before I had even finished cooking! I am glad I have leftovers for lunch today cause guess what? Right after I finish this post I am about to dig in 🙂

Ingredients for Meatballs:

• 1/2 Onion
• 1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
• 1/4 Cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• Salt as per your taste
• Pepper as per your taste
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil for sauteing
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil for cooking Meatballs
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 1/2 pound ground beef (you can use turkey or chicken if you like)

Preparing Meatballs:

1. Chop the Onion and Garlic into really tiny pieces.

2. Combine Milk and Bread crumbs in a small bowl and let them settle.

3. Heat oil on a skillet and then saute onions till they get soft.

4. Add garlic to the skillet next and then continue sauteing till onions turn translucent.

5. Take the skillet off the heat and let it cool off for a bit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

6. In a large bowl whisk the egg and then throw in the milk/bread crumb mixture, sauteed onions and garlic, meat and salt pepper.

7. Gently mix in all the ingredients together but make sure you don’t handle the meat too much otherwise the meatballs will turn hard.

8. Make about 20 to 25 tiny meatballs and let them sit on a platter.

9. Next heat the Olive Oil and Butter on the same skillet that you used to cook the onion and garlic.

10. Cook about 10 to 13 meatballs at a time. Brown them on each side, turning as needed.

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 1/4 Onion
• 1/4 Cup Flour
• 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 4 Cups Beef Broth
• Salt and pepper according to your taste

Procedure to Make Sauce

1. Chop up onions and garlic

2. Saute Onions and Garlic in the same pan that you cooked the meatballs in. (Add more oil if needed)

3. Create a well of onions and garlic with a hole in the center.

4. Melt butter in the well of onions and garlic.

5. Pour the flour in the melted butter and blend in with the onions and garlic.

6.Once the flour turns brown (About 2 to 3 minutes) pour in beef broth slowly constantly stirring, to avoid the flour from clumping or forming

dumplings.

7. Once all the flour and blended in the broth, pour in heavy cream and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.

8. Add salt and pepper as per your taste.

8.Once a desired consistency is reached for the sauce (it will thicken the longer it cooks) drop in all the meatballs and let them heat through.

Serve the Meatballs with pasta of your choice as I did or you can always serve it with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce like in Sweden 🙂 I was in a little hurry this time around so didnt go all out to make cranberry sauce or potatoes.

Hope you enjoy the recipe. If you do try it out, let me know if you like it or if any improvements can be made!

Jalapeno Lime Chicken Alfredo with a hint of Cilantro

So hunnies  I have been a lazy chef lately! But that doesnt mean my creative juices have run dry! Oh how could that even happen to someone like me? I always have something to say, do , show or tell…there might be annoying moments in my life but never a dull moment 🙂

Anyway the best part about cooking this dish was the aroma!  You could smell it every where in the house but I loved the smell when the onions, jalapenos and garlic were sauteing in the pan! I know most people hate the smell of garlic but I have some strange love for it! Could be cultural cause I remember my mom always dumping ginger and garlic in everything and going aaahh smells so good everyday 🙂 This is a quick and easy recipe for a day when you have no energy and want dinner wrapped up in 30 mins tops! Anyway enjoy and do let me know what you think if you give this recipe a try!

Ingredient List:

1 box Fettuccine

2 Chicken Breasts (cubed)

1 or 2 Jalapeno Peppers (chopped)

1/2 Onion (Chopped)

3 to 4 Garlic cloves (Chopped)

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 Cup Lime Juice

8 to 10 Cilantro sticks chopped

Salt according to Taste

1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Cooking Instructions:

1. Cook the Fettuccine as per the directions on the box.

2. Start with sauteing Olive Oil and Butter in a large pan over medium heat.

3. After the butter melts add Jalapenos, Onions and garlic to the pan (prepare to bask in the delicious aroma!)

4. Once the Onion has softened (about 3 minutes) add chicken, salt, cumin. and lime juice.

5. Lower the temperature and Continue cooking till chicken is no longer pink and fully cooked.

6. Add Heavy cream to the pan and continue stirring till the chicken is entirely covered with heavy cream.

7. Add Parmesan cheese and cilantro and continue stirring.

7. I garnished with some baby tomatoes and fresh cilantro leaves. And for some added spicy Sirarcha 🙂

8.ENJOY!

Go to My Kitchen for other recipes I have concocted.

Weekend yumminess: Banana Nutella Crepes!

When it comes to food the drive to eat something that I am unable to find easily in my area has helped me learn a million recipes. Crepes are my all time favorite Weekend Breakfast! They are so easy to make and you can literally fill them with anything available at hand! Not just that, you can make them savory or sweet….mmmm. I would have gone and made more if I wasn’t already full off of a plateful of Banana Nutella Crepes! Click here for Recipe

Jumbo Pasta Shell Tacos

I have a tendency to get bored with consuming things the regular way and that is when I start hunting for ideas and recipes. None of the recipes I find ever get cooked the way they are supposed to. I will add ingredients to make it the way I want it to taste or remove ingredients if I don’t have them at hand or sometimes end up substituting something else in hopes it will taste the way I want it to.

And that is exactly how I ended up with my recipe of Jumbo Pasta Shell Tacos! Check out the Recipe Here

Recipe: Profiteroles

I ate Profiteroles growing up as a kid in U.A.E. My mom always used to buy these for me from a bakery near our house. Ofcourse as a 5 year old I never cared to memorize the name of the pastry I enjoyed so much. Years later after a desperate search online I was able to put a name to the face of my all time favorite puff pastry.  Here is my recipe that I have perfected after adding variations of ingredients to it. Recipe