Finnish Meatballs

1. 1 lb. hamburger (80% fat is best as it doesn't pop as much but the fatter
2. stuff
3. tastes better)
4. 1 tsp. salt
5. 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
6. 1/2 cup heavy cream or half & half
7. 1 small to med. onion
8. 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
9. Real butter (approx 1 Tbsp.)
10. 1/2 tsp. dried dill (optional) it's good with or without this

Pour the cream into a bowl with the oatmeal before you start making meatballs so the oatmeal softens while you are chopping the onion. Add salt & pepper to the oatmeal mixture too. Slice off about a third of the onion to go in meatballs themselves. Chop really fine. Take the other part of onion and slice it into slices and put into the pot you are going to simmer your meatballs in. Cover the onions with water just until covered a couple of inches and turn on to simmer while frying meatballs.

Put hamburger in mixing bowl and add the minced onion and oatmeal mixture and mix well with fork until it looks thoroughly mixed together. Take about 1 Tbsp. of butter and put in frying pan and turn to about med. high. (you might have to turn it down to med if they start getting too dark) Let the pan get hot and the butter a little browned. Roll your meat into meatballs in the same bowl they are in and you might have to turn the water faucet to a trickle and wet your hands periodically as the meatballs are rather sticky. Fry them in 2 batches and the second batch you will probably have enough grease left that you won't need more butter. Turn them at least a couple of times or as much as you can to make them dark brown. The darker the better as this gives the good flavor. Put on paper towels to drain after browning for about 8 minutes. Take the drained meatballs and put in your pot with the onions. Pour any leftover grease out of your frying pan and discard grease. Add some water to the frying pan and scrape up any pan drippings. Pour this over meatballs. If you don't have enough water to just cover them, add some from faucet. Try to use as small a pot as the meatballs will fit in as they have more flavor with less broth used. Add enough salt to the simmering water to taste salty enough. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve over salted boiled potatoes.

My mother in-law sometimes makes a gravy for the meatballs instead of cooking them in the water for 30 minutes. She takes about 4 Tbsp. of real butter and melts in frying pan and adds 4 Tbsp of flour. Stir until browned and then add enough water to make a gravy. When thickened, pour in a little bit of cream just to make it creamy and give a little flavor. Add salt & white pepper to taste. You can add a bit of dill again if you want or not. Add the meatballs to the gravy and mash a couple of them into the gravy and let them simmer for about 25 minutes. This is great too but oh so fattening!!!