HOW SWEDE IT IS
Richness of meatballs, gravy is balanced by lingonberry sauce, pressed cucumber salad
I’m an avid walker and try to go for a brisk, seaside walk almost every day. But the recent spate of wintry weather has curtailed that routine of late. Truth is, the last while I’ve felt like hunkering down in my cosy home. It’s not that I’ve been inactive; it’s just that my urge to slip on my walking shoes and head out the door has been replaced with a desire to slip on my apron, head to my kitchen and cook comfort food.
Deciding what to make often comes down to figuring out what I’ve not eaten lately. This past weekend, after it snowed, I realized I had not made Swedish-style meatballs in a while and knew they would be perfect on such a day.
This dish has been made for eons in Sweden and other places it was introduced to, such as North America. That’s why, when researching recipes for it, I was not surprised to find numerous variations on how folks said it should be made.
For example, some recipes ask you to add cooked, diced onions to the ground meat used to make the balls, while others used raw, grated onion. Some recipes said that if you “nap” — lightly coat — the meatballs with gravy, you should make it creamy by adding milk. Some said to use cream, while others suggested sour cream.
But the bottom line is, if you make and serve Swedish-style meatballs as a main course, you should end up with meatballs that are fairly small in size, deliciously tender and sautéed in butter, accented with a yummy, richtasting gravy. In other words, comfort food that’s perfect to enjoy on a dreary day.
I believe I have achieved that goal with today’s recipe, which yields six servings. If that’s too many, you could freeze some of the meatballs (see Eric’s options underneath the recipe).
I served the meatballs with mashed potatoes, but boiled potatoes will also work. I also balanced the richness of the meatballs by serving them with traditional Swedish-style sides — lingonberry sauce and pressed cucumber salad.
I included a recipe for the cucumber salad, which is essentially a fresh pickle. I bought a jar of lingonberry sauce at a grocery store, but it’s best to call first to make sure they have it. Lingonberry sauce is made, of course, with lingonberries, a tart, small, red fruit also known as a mountain cranberry. Swedish-style Meatballs Tender, sumptuous meatballs bathed in rich and creamy gravy. Preparation: 40 minutes Cooking time: about 25 minutes Makes: six (about eight small meatballs each) servings 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs (see Note) 1/3 cup half and half (10 per cent) cream 1 large egg, beaten 1/8 tsp ground allspice 1 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 Tbsp coarsely grated onion (about 1/2 small onion) 3/4 lb. (340 grams) lean ground beef 3/4 lb. (340 grams) ground pork 2 Tbsp butter (divided) 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cups beef stock or broth 1/2 cup half and half (10 per cent) cream 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional) Place breadcrumbs and 1/3 cup cream in a large bowl. Mix until the breadcrumbs absorb the cream. Mix in the egg, allspice, salt and pepper. Add the ground meats and gently mix to combine.
Moisten your hands with cold water. Roll 1 Tbsp scoops of the meat mixture into one-inch balls and set on a baking sheet. You should have about 48 meatballs.
Place 1 Tbsp of butter in a very large skillet (mine was 12 inches wide) and set over medium to medium-high heat. When the butter is melted and no longer foaming, add half the meatballs to the pan.
Fry the meatballs, shaking the pan occasionally, until nicely browned and cooked through, about eight to 10 minutes. Set cooked meatballs in a nineby-13-inch casserole.
Preheat the oven 200 F. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp butter to the skillet and fry the remaining meatballs in the same way you did the first batch. Set those meatballs in the casserole (see Eric’s options). Cover meatballs with foil and keep warm in the oven.
Set the skillet back on the heat. Stir 2 Tbsp flour into the fat in the pan and cook one minute. While whisking, slowly mix in the beef stock (or broth). Bring the mixture to a simmer, then simmer two minutes. Whisk in the 1/2 cup cream, return to a simmer and season the gravy, if needed, with salt and pepper. Uncover meatballs, top with the gravy, sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve. Note: To get the 3/4 cup of fresh bread crumbs needed for this recipe, place one and a half to two slices of regular white bread, cubed, in a food processor and pulse until crumb-like. If you don’t have a food processor, freeze the bread slices until solid, then use a box or other grater to finely grate them into crumbs. Eric’s options: If you want to make the meatballs in the morning and serve them for dinner that evening, don’t keep them warm in the oven once they’re fried and in the casserole. Instead, top them with the gravy, then cool the meatballs to room temperature. Now cover meatballs with aluminum foil and refrigerate until ready to reheat. To reheat meatballs, set them in a 350 F oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Remove the foil, sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.
If you would like to freeze some of the meatballs once they’re fried, set them in a suitably sized freezer container. Top them with the gravy, then cool them to room temperature. Now seal the container, label, date and freeze until ready to thaw and reheat.
Pressed Cucumber Salad
In this recipe, cucumbers are thinly sliced, salted, pressed and then drained. That technique extracts moisture from them, which is then replaced by soaking the cucumbers in a sweetand-sour vinegar mixture, creating a pickle-like taste and texture. Preparation: 20 minutes, plus pressing and marinating time Cooking time: None Makes: about two cups 1 medium English cucumber 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar • pinch or two white pepper Thinly slice the cucumber with a handheld slicer or food processor or carefully with a very sharp knife. Lay a third of the slices on a large plate, then sprinkle with a third of the salt. Lay on a third more of the cucumber slices, then sprinkle them with half the remaining salt. Set on the remaining cucumber slices, then sprinkle with remaining salt.
Set a plate on top of the cucumber slices. Now set some heavy cans of food on that plate. Press the cucumbers in this fashion for one hour.
Uncover the cucumbers and drain away the excess liquid. Now toss cucumbers with the parsley or dill.
Place cucumber slices into a two-cup (500 mL) jar. Combine water, vinegar, sugar and white pepper in a bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the vinegar mixture over the cucumbers. Seal the jar and refrigerate and marinate cucumbers in the vinegar mixture for at least two hours. Cucumbers can be made many hours before serving. Leftover cucumbers will keep for several days in the refrigerator. Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His latest is The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.