Spoiler Alert

Call me crazy, but da Bears seem to do better against excellent teams. Perhaps this week will see yet another upset when da Bears travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. The Vikings are playing this season in the TCF Bank Stadium - home of the University of Minnesota - while their new stadium is being built. That means  outdoor games in, what can be, a highly weathered state. Sunday's forecast calls for cold but dry.

What is called for on your menu? At this stadium, fairly traditional tailgate food is available. The new stadium will, of course, be different. Let's consider traditional Minnesota foods:

• Wild Rice
• Casseroles
• White Fish
• Root Beer
• Booya
• Bundt Cake

What will you cook to help our Bears? My favorite Minnesota recipe has been the Swedish Meatballs. Here's the recipe for 3 servings.


Ingredients:
 1 slice day-old white bread, crumbled
 1/4 cup heavy cream
 1/2 teaspoon butter
 1/2 small onion, minced
 5 ounces ground beef
 2-1/2 ounces finely ground pork
 1/2 egg
 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
 2 tablespoons chicken broth

 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, or as needed
 1 cup beef broth, or as needed
 1/4 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place the bread crumbs into a small bowl, and mix in the cream. Allow to stand until crumbs absorb the cream, about 10 minutes.

While the bread is soaking, melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion until it turns light brown, about 10 minutes.

Place onion into a mixing bowl; mix with the ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger.

Lightly mix in the bread crumbs and cream.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the meat mixture per meatball, and form into balls. Place the meatballs into the skillet, and cook just until the outsides are brown, about 5 minutes, turning the meatballs often. Insides of the meatballs will still be pink.

Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and cover with foil.
Bake in the preheated oven until the meatballs are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove meatballs to a serving dish.

To make brown gravy, pour pan drippings into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the pan drippings until smooth, and gradually whisk in enough beef broth to total about 2 1/2 cups of liquid.

Bring the gravy to a simmer, whisking constantly until thick, about 5 minutes.

Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve the gravy with the meatballs.