Swedish Meatball Noodle Soup

Over Memorial Day, niece in law, Melinda, made this delicious soup- really more a stew.  It was so good with crusty bread and salad.  A keeper for sure.  You could probably use Ikea's Swedish meatballs but I'm not really a fan. 

               

Swedish Meatball Noodle Soup (recipe shared by pineycook.com)

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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 oz. Broad Egg Noodles, cooked al dente according to package directions
• ¼-½ cup sour cream (personal preference)
•                     
• Swedish Meatballs
• 2 slices bread, toasted and torn into pieces
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ large onion, minced
• ⅔ pound ground beef
• ⅓ pound ground pork
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
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• Soup
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup flour
• 7 cups beef broth
• 1 cup heavy cream mixed with 2 tablespoons cornstarch**
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

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Directions

1.To make the meatballs, place the bread into a small bowl and mix in 1/2 cup cream. Allow to stand until bread absorbs the cream, about 15 minutes, then add bread to food processor and pulse until completely broken up (it will look like mushy bread). Add pulverized cream bread to a large bowl. 2.While the bread is soaking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add onions and sauté until translucent and softened, about 5 minutes. Add to large bowl with bread. 3.To the onions and bread, add remaining meatball ingredients and mix. Form meat into 1 tablespoon meatballs, approximately 40 meatballs. 4.Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add half of the meatballs and cook, stirring frequently, until well browned on all sides, approximately 5 minutes. Remove meatballs to paper towel lined baking sheet. Add remaining meatballs to skillet and repeat. 5.Melt 5 tablespoons butter in Dutch oven/large soup pot over medium high heat. Add carrots, celery and mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Sprinkle in flour and cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. 6.Turn heat to low and gradually stir in beef broth followed by heavy cream. Add Worcestershire sauce, parsley, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil, stirring frequently until thickened to desired consistency, approximately 5 minutes. 7.Add meatballs and lower the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally. 8.Stir in sour cream until smooth, followed by noodles. Taste and add additional salt, pepper, red pepper flakes if desired. 9.Garnish with fresh parsley (optional) and serve.

Notes *For a lighter version, you may substitute milk but only use 1/4 cup and add more as needed to meatball mixture. **You may substitute milk or half and half, but keep in mind the higher the fat content, the creamier the soup. You can add more sour cream at the end of cooking to help creamify. ***For a less "chunky" soup, add more beef broth and/or heavy cream/milk.