Swedish Meatball Recipe

Have I mentioned how much I love IKEA? I mean if I was a retail store I would marry IKEA. Then again if I was a retail super store none of my clothes would fit. 

Full to bursting with so much stuff! And you know the stuffed master loves his stuff. Plates, and flatware and bowls and glasses, serving trays and bake ware, and shelf after shelf of stuff! Napkins and dispensers, Olympic sized gravy boats, sleek tables and hideous plastic lamps! Sheep skin rugs, cow hide rugs, leather butterfly chairs…wait holy minimalist Scandinavian design batman! It’s the 70’s! 

Well anyway I do actually like the store even though it is often packed, and I often find myself wandering around pushing a cart filled with impulse buys.  (oooooh a shaving mirror for only 9.99 (I haven’t shaved with a mirror in years), a shoe horn organizer only 2.99 I have to have it! How about the placemats with the pictures of lime green flowers, or the useless bud vase for 0.49! Forty nine cents! Are you kidding me, I must have six of them! Make it twelve, I have no idea what I am going to do with them but I have to have them! An under the bed hat storage unit! Oh I need that, I do, I really do, I have a lot of hats! 

On one such madcap escapade I found the IKEA Swedish cook book, which of course I could not turn down. (Hello? Man who had to convert linen cupboard into cookbook storage?). It is actually quite fascinating, and for the life of me I would never have known that there were so many different uses for herring and salt cod, salt cod and herring. Well I never. What was conspicuously absent was a recipe for Swedish Meatballs. Whether this is because Swedish Meatballs are not actually Swedish, or the fact that IKEA sells large bags of Swedish Meatballs and powdered cream gravy in their food hall, I am not certain. 

I am certain that I like Swedish meatballs, a dish I first tried while in naval basic training at Great Lakes. Since those strangely idyllic days on the lake they call Michigan I have seen Swedish meatballs adulterated by frozen food vendors, carelessly thrown together by catering staff and lovingly created by Armenian Americans with no Swedish ancestry whatsoever. 

Well here is the recipe that IKEA neglected to put in their otherwise fantastic cook book of Swedish cooking.

Ingredients for four to six marshmallow peeps

3/4 Pound Beef

¾ Pound Pork

1 Small onion chopped

1 Egg

2 slices of bread or gluten free bread crust removed and turned into crumbs

3 Cups of beef stock or broth

½ Cup of cream

1 Tablespoon of chopped parsley

¼ teaspoon of black pepper

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of allspice

¼ Teaspoon of nutmeg

2-3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

3-4 tablespoons of flour or cornstarch (If using cornstarch mix with a little water to make a paste.

1/8 th teaspoon nutmeg additional

1 Teaspoon of dill (optional, I just happen to like dill)

How you do this? I tell you now.

Mix up the crumbled bread and the two meats with the all spice and the nutmeg, add a little salt and pepper., onion, parsley . Mix well with your fingers, I mean get right in there and squish it all up till it’s really really mixed. Form balls about an inch to inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter. Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown all the balls if you can fit them in. If not cook in batches and keep warm covered in a warm oven. When all the balls are nicely browned add the flour or rice flour to the pan and stir till it has absorbed all of the oil and is a sort of mellow paste. Vigorously Whisk in the stock and bring to a boil stirring frequently to avoid clumps of flour Reduce the temperature and add the cream, nutmeg and a little cracked black pepper. Taste of seasoning and add the balls back to the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat for 10 minutes till sauce is saucy and thick.

Serve over boiled potatoes, wide egg noodles, oven baked French fries, wild or long grain rice.

And here is a picture of my table set with new Ikea Glassware, Tablecloth and napkins, the china and silver is antique.