Bitterballen
The October Daring Cooks’ Challenge was brought to us by Andrea from 4pure.
She introduced us to one of her family favorites which is soon to become one of yours, too. Welcome to the world of Dutch Bitterballen!
After taking the first bite one might be tempted to think that this is a dish comprised of meat and potatoes. However, there are no potatoes at all! Instead, the thick texture is provided by a rue. The best way I can describe the texture is that similar to shepherd’s pie. Have you ever had day old shepherd’s pie? To me, nothing beats leftovers from homemade shepherd’s pie. The onions and meat mixed together in this dish provide all the great taste of shepherd’s pie, but with a much subtler tone.
Kiley found the texture a bit odd, but one of my roommates and I find it to be just right! The only thing that could make this dish better is a sauce, particularly a white sauce. I believe that a red sauce would over-power the bitterballen, but a white sauce would enhance the subtle flavors. The sauce that I am going to make next time this dish is made will definitely be the Bechamel Sauce I posted last month- have you tried it yet?
I happened to serve the bitterballen over pasta, but serving this dish over rice would do equally as well. I would not serve this dish by itself, unless you plan on serving it as an appetizer. After all, you do not want to have a table full of hungry people, now would you?
Even though I said that the texture was thick I did not find the bitterballen to be very filling, so be prepared to have more than a few…or be sure to serve with extra sides! This recipe makes plenty of bitterballen, so you only need to make one recipe to serve to your family or keep as leftovers. Make a large recipe once and enjoy it for days- that is one of my favorite things about leftovers!
Bitterballen
Ingredients
Beef Filling
1-1/3 lbs soup meat/cubed beef (I used ground beef)
4 cups (1 liter) beef stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 onion
1 stick (½ cup) butter
1 cup flour
pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
nutmeg, to taste
The coating
flour, enough to cover the bitterballen
2 eggs slightly beaten
bread crumbs, enough to cover the bitterballen
oil for deep frying
Posted on 10/15/14 by Efrain
Try some of our other meat based dishes!
Directions
Beef filling
1. Cook the soup meat (cubed beef) in the beef stock with 1 teaspoon salt for about 2-3 hours, or until tender. Let it cool to room temperature. Remove beef and cut beef finely. Reserve 2 cups of stock and set aside.
2. Slice the onion finely. Make a roux by melting the butter and glazing (browning) the onion for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour all at once and stir on medium-high heat for another 3 minutes.
4. Add the stock, whisk well and let it come to a boil (keep stirring). Cook at a high simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the cooked soup meat (cubed beef).
5. Add the nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste.
6. Take a cooled plate or oven dish and spread the filling over the plate; cover with some plastic wrap and allow to cool down for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (better to let it cool overnight).
The coating
1. Take three bowls and fill the first one with flour, the second one with the eggs and the third one with bread crumbs.
2. Take the filling and take a spoon of filling and make a ball of it.
3. Roll it through the bowl with flour.
4. Roll the floured ball through the beaten egg
5. Roll through the bread crumbs
6. Place on a plate and repeat for the rest of the filling.
7. After making the desired amount of bitterballen place the plate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, and heat your frying pan to 350°F over medium heat (or you can put the plate in the freezer as the oil comes to temperature).
8. Deep fry the bitterballen for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until done (golden brown).
Bitterballen- Just put into the pan
Bitterballen- Almost done
Question: Do you prefer making meatballs out of ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey? Let me know in the comments sections below!