frikadeller (danish meatballs)

we made frikadeller last night for the first time in a long time. they're so yummy and so easy, i don't know why they sort of fell out of the repertoire. i stirred them up and we took them over to maria & marianne's to make them. they were gobbled up so fast that i didn't even get a chance to take a picture of them, but here's the recipe anyway:

danish frikadeller

1 kilo/2 pounds ground pork
2 eggs
8-10 mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely diced and pre-softened for a few minutes in butter/olive oil
1/2 C bread crumbs (or flour works just as well)
finely chopped parsley (not essential but use it if you have it on hand--thyme or even sage would work well too)
salt & pepper to taste

stir it all together (i usually end up getting in there with my hands as that mixes it best) and form into rather large (2-3") meatballs. this recipe should make close to 30 meatballs. fry them up in a pan with a mixture of olive oil & butter. the butter gives them a lovely crispiness on the outside.

once they're done, transfer them to an oven-safe dish and pop them in the oven to stay warm while you use the bits that remain in the pan to make a decadent sauce to serve with them. without cleaning the pan, sauté a medium chopped onion and some thinly-sliced mushrooms.  once they are softened, add at least a half pint of cream and simmer until it thickens a bit, add more if you need to serve more people. serve together with boiled potatoes and the meatballs. at our house, the child is totally mad for cauliflower,  so we served some of that with them as well last night. together with a big, lovely salad, it's a great meal.

in the unlikely event you have leftovers, they make a great sandwich sliced on a slice of rye bread the next day. this recipe fed four hungry adults and one child last evening, with only 3 meatballs leftover.