HOLIDAY MEAT AND CHOCOLATE BALLS

I am following Punctilious's instructions (Carnival of the Recipes News) with two different recipes of "balls"... One is made of meat and the other is made of cocoa.

The New Year's edition will be hosted by Caterwauling. The theme is holiday balls, as in little round foods you chase around your plate and roll down the front of your fancy shirt or gown! It should be a good time! (Blogoram.com, 12/27/05.)

The first recipe is taken from the smorgasbord. I ate several homemade Swedish meat balls during X-mas. Here is an alternative recipe of meaty balls.

I have been talking to the Swedish Chef, and he directed me to check out Jone's Swedish Meatballs at the Scandinavian Cooking site. My personal favorite variant of meatball recipe is the Greek version, Keftédes. The following recipe is roughly translated [together with some additional notes by the editor ;)] from the book, Vi lagar grekiskt ("We are cooking Greek dishes", ISBN 91-20-06133-1), by Hará Ljunggren.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg ground beef
• 1 big yellow onion, minced
• 3 table spoons parsley, finely chopped
• 7 - 8 slices white bread
• 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 1 table spoon oil
• salt and pepper
• rosemary
• oregano

Dunk the white bread in water and then squeeze out the liquid. Mix the ground beef with the onion, bread, and the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl. Let the mixture "rest" for 60 minutes. Roll the meat mixture into pretty big balls, and then roll them in flour. Add margarine in a frying pan and let the balls "rock'n'roll around the clock" in the pan until they are brown all over. How about serving ouzo together with the meatballs? (EGO, CARNIVAL OF THE RECIPES, 04/16/05.)

It's now time to heat up things a bit and dig into a PC debate. Here is the story of a name change of a sweet ball... From my post, MIND YOUR LANGUAGE.

After I read this story (Metro boss resigns after racist "joke"), I had to reflect on how the use of the "n-word" has changed. In my childhood, you could buy a pastry called "negerboll" in Swedish. They have now changed the name to "chocolate ball". For more details, read the article, Sweet leaves sour taste with the PC. (EGO, 01/17/05.)

If you are curious about the chocolate ball (Chokladboll in Swedish), check out Eileen Goltz's No Bake Chocolate Balls and the post, Happy Birthday, darling! by A cat in the kitchen.

Here is an quote from World Famous Recipes:

Carnival of the Recipes #72 will be hosted at Caterwauling and that theme is Holiday balls as in round food (rumballs, meatballs etc.) (A lot of people will be attending New Year's Eve Balls.) (WorldFamousRecipes.com, 12/24/05.)

If you have an interest in dancing, e.g, ballroom dance, read my post, LET'S DANCE.