May 4: Swedish Meat Dumpling Stoup

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 cup shredded carrots or 1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
   Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups beef stock or broth
1 quart chicken stock or broth
1 pound ground veal or meatloaf mix
2 rounded teaspoonfuls Dijon mustard
1 egg, beaten
1/2 to 2/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 pound medium or wide egg noodles
1 cup sour cream
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or fresh dill, your choice
2 to 3 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add the EVOO and butter and when the butter melts into the EVOO, add the mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, and bay leaf.

Cook until the mushrooms are tender and the celery, carrots, and onions begin to soften, 7 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the flour.

Cook for another minute. Whisk in the beef and chicken stock to combine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil.

While the soup comes to a boil, mix the veal with the mustard, egg, bread crumbs, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Roll the meat into small balls, 1 inch in diameter, tops.

Remove the lid from the soup and add the balls. The dumplings will cook in the soup.

After 2 to 3 minutes, stir in the egg noodles and cook for 6 minutes more.

Turn off the heat and stir the sour cream into the stoup. Adjust the salt and pepper and fish out the bay leaf. Serve the stoup with a generous sprinkle of either chives or dill and chopped parsley.

4 SERVINGS

This soup was delicious. I have been wanting a meal like this: full of lots of tasty vegetables and nice and creamy and tasty. It seems like we've been eating lots of ethnic foods lately. These one-pot meals are probably my favorite. I didn't have any fresh parsley, and my chives had gone bad, so I used dried dill and dried parsley. It turned out nice. You can't find veal in this town, so I used half pork and half beef.

Rachael Ray says: "This stoup is a one-pot Swedish meatballs and egg noodle supper, but soupier!" Her tidbit is: "I mix beef and chicken stock to make a flavor similar to veal stock for this soup. If you live near a market or kitchen store (such as Williams-Sonoma), you can buy and use 6 cups of veal stock for this recipe."