Many French Canadian households often serve this meatball fricassee as a main course. Your stomach will be satisfied, and the aroma of heated spices will fill your home.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 egg
- ½ cup dry bread crumbs
- 6 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup cold water
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Spread flour out in a thin, even layer on a baking sheet.
- Roast flour in the preheated oven until medium brown in color, 10 to 15 minutes; stir often and watch carefully to avoid burning. Remove flour from the baking sheet immediately once the desired color has been reached; set aside in a shallow bowl to cool.
- Melt butter in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook and stir until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer onion to a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir spice mix into onion. Place ground pork, parsley, egg, and bread crumbs in the bowl, and mix to combine thoroughly. Form meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs; roll each meatball in the roasted flour. Reserve unused flour.
- Pour chicken broth into the pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Carefully add the meatballs, stirring to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Add the bay leaf. Simmer meatballs 20 minutes. Add potatoes and simmer until potatoes are tender and the broth has reduced, about 20 minutes longer. Transfer meatballs to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
- Remove and discard bay leaf. Mix remaining roasted flour and cold water together in a cup. Gradually whisk flour mixture into the simmering broth to thicken. Bring stew to a full boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and black pepper. Return meatballs to stew and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 445 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 36 g |
| Cholesterol | 108 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 230 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was almost as I remembered it, but that memory is 43 years old. I would like to see a picture of the roasted flour. I’m never quite sure what medium brown looks like and this is really the essence of this recipe. I will do this one again.
Cake spices do not belong in meatballs! Hated it
This recipe was simple and delicious!!
Absolutely loved this recipe. Not a fan of cloves so I did omit the cloves. The recipe is similar to a Swedish meatball. I served cooked julienned carrots on top when I served it in big white bowls. It’s like winter meatball stew. I also had never heard of roasting the flour. I did serve it with a white wine. It’s a keeper!
I made this recipe exactly as stated and it was amazing. There was so much flavour and it was the perfect comfort food for a fall day. My whole family loved it.
This is similar to parts of the traditional ragout. Delicious, great way to celebrate the new year. We need to be gluten-free so I substituted King Arthur measure-to-measure for the flour (including roasting it) and it worked well. Only other change I made was to reduced in half the amount of ground cloves.
loved this dish
I followed the recipe but seemed a little short on liquid when I started cooking the meatballs and so added a little more broth. They were delicious!
very good. next time i would cut the cloves by at least half and use about 1/2 the remaining flour for the gravy. did everything the way the recipe called and everything was pretty much dead on. the roasted flour was something totally new for me. really liked the added flavor. will make again.
I had never had a recipe with these spices added to meat so I was hesitant to try it but I made the recipe exactly as described. It turned out wonderful! It was delicious. The only change I would make would be to add a small onion instead of a large onion because the onion to meat ratio was a bit much for me. Even so, this was a delicious meal and I will make it again. I served it with a side of steamed carrots with brown sugar and nutmeg. My husband and my grandsons ate large portions and got refills, so it was a hit all the way around!
Feel like I’m in my grandma’s dining room, just awesome recipe
My mother and memere always made this recipe with just cinnamon. Good recipe though.
The clove was overpowering in an otherwise decent recipe
The recipe I have does not have egg or onion in the meatballs and we roast the meatballs in the oven before putting them in the broth. But the essential is there and very good. I serve it with mashed potatoes with the sauce instead of milk. Delish!!!