RACHEL ALLEN’S SCANDI MEATBALLS WITH CREAM SAUCE
Food writer, TV star, cookery school tutor and restaurateur Rachel’s down-to-earth approach to family food is what makes her recipes so appealing. This dish is adapted from her most recent cookbook, Recipes From My Mother.
Hands-on time 20min, plus cooling. Cooking time about 35min. Serves 4
25g (1oz) butter, plus extra for frying 1 onion, finely chopped 30g (1¼oz) crustless white bread, about 1 slice (stale bread is good) 75ml (3fl oz) milk 500g (1lb 2oz) minced beef and pork, mixed (250g/9oz of each) ½tsp ground allspice ¼tsp grated nutmeg 2tsp chopped sage for the sauce 15g (½oz) butter 2tbsp plain flour 175ml (6fl oz) double cream 175ml (6fl oz) chicken stock Juice ¼-½ lemon, to taste to serve Lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce
Melt half the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook for 8–10min until completely tender. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
While the onion is cooking, break up the bread, place in a small bowl and cover with milk. Leave to stand for 10min or so, to absorb all the milk.
Place the minced meat in a bowl, add the allspice, nutmeg and sage, cooked onion and bread, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Place a frying pan on the heat and allow to get almost hot. Break off a small piece of the mixture and fry it in a little butter, then taste it and adjust seasoning if needed.
Shape the mixture into 24 balls, about the size of a walnut in its shell. Cover and place in the fridge overnight, if you wish.
When ready to cook, place a large frying pan over a high heat, add the remaining butter and allow it to melt and foam. Tip in the meatballs and cook for 10–12min, turning the heat down slightly once they are a good golden colour. When they are cooked in the centre, transfer them to a dish to keep warm.
To make the sauce, add butter to
the pan the meatballs were cooked in and, using a whisk, stir in all the lovely juicy bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add flour and continue whisking for a further 10–20sec. Gradually pour in cream and stock, whisking all the time to prevent it going lumpy, and bring to the boil, then boil for 1min. Taste and add lemon juice and seasoning.
Return the meatballs to the pan. Stir into the hot cream sauce to coat, then serve with lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce.
‘Served at buffets, smorgasbords or at midsommar celebrations, meatballs, or köttbullar, vary from family to family and town to town. While opinions may differ – whether to use beef, veal or a mix of beef and pork, a thick sauce or a thin gravy – they are always accompanied by a dollop of lingonberry jam’