Swedish Meatballs, Brussels Sprouts, and Pearl Onions

Boil potatoes in salted water in a large saucepan for about 40 minutes, or until very easily pierced with a fork. Simultaneously, boil pearl onions in salted water in a small saucepan for about 20 minutes, or until easily pierced. Both on back burners.

Dice the yellow onion and mince the garlic. Sweat them in 1 tablespoon of melted butter in your largest frying pan. Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat until fragrant and just translucent throughout. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Roughly tear the slices of white bread and toss them into a large bowl with the egg, half of the half & half, nutmeg, and some salt and pepper.

Blend this mixture well, letting the bread fall apart in the milk and ensuring the egg is fully mixed in.

With light, picking fingers, gently pull apart the ground lamb, veal, and pork, dropping the bits into the bowl. Add the caraway and fennel seeds.

Add the cooled onion/garlic mix to the bowl with the meat.

Using your hands and the lightest touch possible, blend all the contents of the bowl thoroughly to form a meat mixture.

Continuing to employ a light touch, form the meat mixture into about 36 small meatballs, each about the size of a walnut.

Trim the white wedge roots out of the brussels sprouts. Toss them in EVOO, season with sea salt and pepper. Spread them out on a baking sheet.

Roast the brussels sprouts in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

While sprouts roast, fry the meatballs in batches in 2 tablespoons of hot browned butter. Allow each meatball to brown fully on the first side, then use tongs to flip and brown fully on the other edge, before rolling them to maintain their spherical shapes. Once fully cooked but still tender, pull them off the heat and set on a plate lined with tin foil.

Using the hot butter left in the pan, add about 2 tablespoons of flour to the fat. Whisk over high heat to brown and thicken to a roux. Add concentrated beef stock, continuing to whisk well and scraping up all the browned meaty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Allow this to simmer for about 3-4 minutes.

Using a fine-mesh strainer, pour the sauce into a large bowl, removing and discarding the solids. Return the strained liquid to the pan and simmer over low heat to thicken.

Whisk sour cream into the rich beef sauce. Add the meatballs and the boiled, peeled, and trimmed pearl onions into the pan, dousing them with ladles of sauce, allowing everything to heat through until steaming.

Using the last of the half & half and butter, first mash then whip the potatoes into a creamy smooth puree. Pipe into a curlicue onto a plate with a modified zipper bag. Lay meatballs and onions lovingly, spooning them onto the potatoes, and blanket the whole with the smooth creamy rich and silky light brown gravy. Finally, dot the plate with crisp roasted sprouts, sprinkled with salt.