Tag food blog

50/50 Week 16: The Netherlands Bitterballen

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I didn’t enjoy this one. You’ve been warned.

These are not a 1 day make, allow for at least 2 or start in the morning.

Ingredients:

Meatballs

  • 8 T butter (unsalted)
  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 3 cups beef broth
  • 2 T parsley
  • 1 small onion minced
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 t black pepper
  • 1/4 t nutmeg

Breading

  • 1/2 cup AP flour
  • 3 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

+ vegetable oil for frying

Melt butter over medium high heat in a large skillet. Once melted, add your flour little by little, whisking until a thick paste forms. Slowly stir/whisk in the beef broth, making sure to stir thoroughly. You want all of the broth incorporated in your roux (pay special attention to the sides of your pan) Your gravy will be smooth and get quite thick. Simmer for a couple minutes and add your parsley, onion, and raw ground beef. Stir well, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Adjust seasoning as needed. This will look all sorts of wrong and frankly disgusting. It is what it is.

Transfer your meat/gravy mixture to a tupperware container and refrigerate overnight or until it has solidified (4 hours probably)

⭐⭐ It’s worth noting at this point that I refrigerated mine overnight and it was still not solidified..however I think that’s because I opted to use the lean ground beef instead of 80/20. I think the higher fat content would have made it tighten up better. ⭐⭐

Assuming your mixture is solidified, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put flour in a plate, bread crumbs in another, and your eggs in a pie pan. Shape meat mixture into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet. Roll in flour, then eggs, and then bread crumbs. Repeat for all and then place pan in fridge while your oil heats. You want your oil to be about 375F

Fry 5 meatballs at a time until they’re golden brown. This will take about 4-5 minutes. If you have enough oil in your pan, the meatballs will actually float when they’re done. Drain and repeat until you’ve cooked them all.

I learned quite a bit while making this. Mainly I learned that I fucking hate frying things. Well, breading and frying. Fuck that. I hate it. It’s messy and to me, just not worth it. Not to say that these weren’t good, because I think they were quite delicious. I just don’t think they were worth it.

Serve with spicy mustard.

50/50 Week 15: Canadian Butter Tarts

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Ingredients:

Crust

  • 2 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 cup cold butter
  • 3/4 cup cold water

Filling

  • 1/4 cup butter (room temp)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs (room temp)
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 t vanilla extract

This goes super quickly if you use a food processor for the crust. Put your flour, sugar, and salt in and add your cold butter in chunks. Pulse until the butter is in small pieces..about 8 times. Slowly add your cold water and pulse until the dough starts to come together. (It will still be a little crumbly but should hold its shape if you press it together)

Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and pat into a disc. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

While your dough is chilling, work on the filling. HA wow..unintentional rhyme 😅

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together your butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each. Add maple syrup, salt, and vanilla. This will look…well, frankly it will look curdled. Its not, I promise. It makes everything easier if you put your filling in a large glass measuring cup with a pour spout for later. If you make the filling and let it sit for a while until you’re ready to use it, you’ll need to give it a good whisk before using it.

Preheat oven to 350F

Now back to that dough! Separate into 2-3 portions. Put the dough you aren’t actively working on back in the fridge. Flour your counter and roll out until its about 1/8 of an inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter that’s about 4 inches across (I used a glass and cut around it) Grease a muffin pan and place your dough rounds in each cup. If you’re a slow cutter/its warm, place your muffin pan in the fridge while you work.

Now whisk up your filling and pour just over half way up for each cup. Do not overfill/spill. It will be a mess and is not gonna be a fun time. I have 2 – 6 cup muffin pans so I placed them on a cookie tray in case of any spillage/stability. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool for 5 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack.

Let these cool or they will be like fucking lava in your mouth. You’ve been warned!

These were so delicious and I’ve never been happier to send things to work with my wife. They were all gone before lunch 😉