Swedish Meatballs

Look what I had for dinner last night. 

Courtesy of Ikea and this book here.

It was so delicious, I'm going to have it again soon!

For those of you that are curious, here is the recipe as printed in the book.  Take note, everything is measured in grams, and for some reason, deciliters (dl).  I did a quick conversion to make this and the coverted amounts are listed below.

Meatballs with cream sauce

250 grams minced beef
250 grams minced pork
1 egg
2-3 dl cream and water (or milk and water)
2 1/2 tablespoons onion, chopped fine
1/2 dl unsweetened rusk flour (1/4 cup)
2 cold boiled potatoes
4-5 tablespoons butter, margarine or oil
salt, white pepper and allspice

250 grams = .67 pounds
1/2 dl = 1.7 ounces or .21 cups
1 dl = 3.4 ounces or .42 cups
2 dl = 6.7 ounces or .85 cups
3 dl = 10.1 ounces or 1.27 cups

**NOTES**

• Instead of rusk (wheat) flour, I substituted all purpose flour with a half teaspoon of baking soda added.
• Two small potatoes were used which worked quite well. 
• Instead of cream and water, I substituted half and half.

Heat the onions until golden in a couple of tablespoons of lightly browned butter, mash the potatoes and moisten the rusk flour in a little water.  Mix all the ingredients into a smooth farce (stuffing) of the right consistency (?) and flavour generously with salt, white pepper and (optional) a little fine-crushed allspice.

Using a pair of spoons rinsed in water, shape the farce into relatively large, round balls and transfer to a floured chopping board, then fry them quite slowly in plenty of butter. 

[Here I used a one ounce ice cream scoop to form the meatballs.  They were transferred to a shallow dish that contained about a half cup of flour.  Once they were all formed, they were cooked in a bit of vegetable oil.]  

For the cream sauce, the recipe is as follows:

1 dl cream
2 dl water or beef stock
chinese soy (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon white flour
salt and white pepper

[When the meatballs are done] Swirl out the pan with a couple of dl of boiling water or meat stock.  Strain the pan juices and dilute with cream.  Thicken with white flour if preferred.  Season well, and serve this and the meatballs with freshly boiled potatoes, uncooked lingonberry jam, a green salad and salted or pickled gherkins.

The meatball with cream sauce recipe is also found at the Ikea website.

Comments

[clare eats]

oooh
looks so good Reid, you cheeky devil!

Where they beter than the "ikea" version?

Did u see I tagged you?

[anthony]

Does it come with an allen key?

[fish fish]

Geee... Reid, that looked really good. Wah~ didn't know you cook well. :P

[AugustusGloop]

Ja. Looks guut. Svan would be impressed =)

[babe_kl]

i wonder if we have any time to drop by ikea this weekend :p *drooling*

[a little swede]

Good old swedish comfort food... in Hawaii! That is hilarious. IKEA really has spread swedish culture like nothing else (well, ABBA, Greta Garbo, Nobel and a bunch of others did do a good job as well). Looks like the real stuff too, with lingonberries and all!

You should also try making the meatballs from scratch, makes it so so much better! Can post you a recipe if you want. (Yours looked way too good to be home-made, or you might be awesome with getting your meatballs even? Are they home-made?!)

[OsloFoodie]

Reid, although the Swedes are more into meatballs than we are here in Norway I do love meatballs with brown sauce and lingonberry, simple yet delicious.
AG, ja, you made us laugh where I am at right now because it so happened that there was a Sven with me and he was certainly impressed that someone in Hawaii actually prepared this dish.

[Reid]

Hi Clare,

Thank you! I'll work on it and get it up this Saturday! =) I have quite a bit going on this week so pardon me if I'm a little late in responding.

BTW...of course Ikea is going to be better. Too bad I couldn't bring some of the frozen stuff home with me. =(

Hi Anthony,

Unfortunately no. Although easy, these weren't as easy as that. =(

Hi fish fish,

Thank you! =)

I would cook more if I had the time. I'm quite handy in the kitchen if I want to be.

Hi AG,

I impressed Svan? I was thinking more of Heidi. *sigh* hehe.

Hi babe_kl,

I wish I had that choice. =(

If I decided to drop by Ikea this weekend, it would mean a flight to California.

Hello A Little Swede,

Thank you for dropping by my blog!

Swedish comfort food hasn't spread too far just yet as we don't have an Ikea here, nor any Swedish restaurants. I'm just glad to have been able to experience Ikea since the first store that I came in contact with back in maybe 1990? It was the store in Elizabeth, NJ.

I'd love to see the recipe that you have. Homemade? Yes, most definitely. They are much better than frozen any day. The secret to getting them nice and even is to use a one ounce ice cream scooper (or melon baller). The scooper also comes in handy when making cookies such as melting moments (snowballs).

Hi Oslo Foodie,

It was easier to prepare than I had thought, and it was quite delicious. I'm glad that I had bought the book and the jam from Ikea. =)

[Melissa]

Hi Reid, that's hilarious! I didn't know Ikea did cookbooks. I'm tempted to go out and buy one, just for the curiosity factor. Who would have thought...?

[santos.]

looks fantastic, but it's just not the same without basking in the satisfaction of after 45 minutes, finally finding the only two matching rag rugs in the rug mountain in the middle of the marketplace....

[MrsT]

Yums..!! lucky you ..! haven't had that for ages now..!

[Moira]

Ha! That's HIlarious that you had swedish meatballs in Hawaii! Now I have to make spam musubi over here and post about it. It's just the right thing to do.

[a little swede]

Ooh, nice! I'm impressed. My meatballs usually look a lot more rustic and grainy.

Then I don't really need to post a recipe since you already have one, but I have an excellent spicy variation to traditional meatballs. A part from the usual stuff you add garlic and ground cloves. Gives them a really nice twist. Good on a "smörgåsbord" (buffet) with smoked salmon, potatoes and so on. And especially nice for Christmas. I also did them for some Australian friends in Sydney ones and threw them on the BBQ, seemed to work well cause they were gone in no time.

[Jo]

ACK MEATBALL ATTACK!!! COMMENCE DROOLING!

Swedish meatballs - small w/ light brown gravy
Danish meatballs - larger, served with brown cream gravy
Spanish "albondigas" - small, currently unknown herb/spice melange, served with soup or sofrito
Greek meatballs - small, spiced with mint, garlic & other wonderful stuff...
Chinese Lion's Heads - oh my goodness, I really need to eat one of these...

**TILT**TILT**TILT**TILT**TILT**TILT**

[Alsocanone]

... you know lingonberry and peanut butter sandwich is yum! Anyone eat it dat way too? I call it the Swedish/American sandwich :)

[Jo]

mmmm... sounds good Also! gotta try it!

[lance]

Reid,

Any chance of posting the recipe from the Ikea cookbook? I love meatballs with gravy. Want to try making the gravy from scratch instead of using campbell's mushroom soup. Plus curious what's the swedish ingredients for their meatballs. thanks -lance

[chef 'em out]

Uh - oh, Look out Marcus!

[milgwimper]

Reid,

Wow great minds think a like, I was seriously thinking about making the meatballs, with brown sauce, and lingonberry jam, but i lacked EVERYTHING to make them...hmmm Maybe this weekend after I go grocery shoppingi'll have a chance to make them. I was thinking of grabbing the Ikea cookbook, but spent too much already at Ikea. Reid would you recommend the cookbook? I have several Swedish, Norwegian, and Scandanavian cookbooks and recipes, but I like to collect cookbooks (and recipes).

Alsocanone,

Yes, I love to eat lingonberry jam with peanutbutter! I haven't run into that many people who like it though, so I'm happy to see that other people too enjoy the sandwhich.

[Jo]

::laughing:: Geez Milly, since when have you let a little thing like not having the ingredients stop you???

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

[milgwimper]

Jo,

hmmm too true...but I like to at least start with 2 or three of the ingredients first! LOL Thanks having a wonderful time.

Reid,

I meant to tell you that your meatballs look really good, got a comment from the husband, thinking that sounded really good for dinner! I definetly have to be making them soon. I'm drooling everytime I look at the picture.

[Reid]

Hi Melissa,

I didn't know that Ikea did cookbooks either AND I bought it for the curiousity factor. The book was cheap. If I remember correctly it was US$6.95. There's some interesting stuff in there.

Hi Santos,

You're definitely right about that. Do they happen to have an Ikea store in Guam? I visited the one in Singapore and it was packed. In fact, I think it was busier than any Ikea store that I've been to in the states.

Hi MrsT,

Yeah, lucky me. I wish I could have this MADE for me all the time. If there were an Ikea store here in Hawaii, I'd be there at least a couple times a week. hehe =P

Hi Moira,

Yeah, and homemade Swedish meatballs at that! =) I'm anxiously awaiting your Spam musubi post. BTW...can you buy Spam in the UK?

Hello again "a little swede",

Rustic meatballs huh? I was tempted to try the "two spoons" method mentioned in the recipe, but I backed out at the last minute. Maybe that would have given them a more rustic appearance.

Thanks for the tips about the garlic and ground cloves. I'll definitely try that next time.

Hi Jo,

Well, Ikea is right around the corner right? hehe! =P

Hi Alsocanone,

I never thought of lingonberry and peanut butter. Don't think I'll try it though, especially since I only brought back one jar of jam. *sigh*

Hi Jo,

If you try it, let me know how you like it.
=)

Hi Lance,

Recipe is up. If you try it, let me know what you think. The gravy isn't like traditional brown gravy...

Hi chef 'em out,

Marcus?

Hi Milgwimper,

Well, to tell you the truth, I bought the cookbook for the novelty of it. I have no idea what real Swedish cooking is like, but at $6.95, the book is inexpensive, so for me it was worth it.

Hi Jo (and Milgwimper),

Aren't you both cooks that don't need any direction or original recipes OR original ingredients? =P

Milgwimper,

Thanks for the compliment. Now, rush out to Ikea to buy a bag of FROZEN Swedish meatballs. I think it was a 6lb bag for $9.99 or something like that.

[milgwimper]

Reid,

Yes. Yes, well as Jo will tell you I have a bad habit of not following recipes, even box cake recipes get transformed into something (else). I like to peruse several recipes and then go with the flow (whatever and wherever it takes me. It does get diverted a lot.) just like to have a launch point ya know, although I do have enought Swedish and Norwegian cookbooks, (I keep telling myself that) and recipes from my Grandmother...hehe ahh well. rolling up sleeves hmmm wonder what my meatballs will turn into after I get done with them. Something good im sure, i'll let you know. Thanks Reid im might peruse the shelves of Ikea maybe too, although i did get a Shun santoku knife so I'm a little busy at the moment.
Reid,

If ya need more lingonberry jam just let me or Jo know and we can work something out!

[Jo]

::laughing:: SEE REID! You know what her meatballs turned into? BI BIM BAP! ROTFL I'll let her explain that one. I will say this however... YUMmmmmmmmmmmmMMMmmmm

[Reid]

Hi Milgwimper,

Thanks for the offer of more lingonberry jam. I might just have to take you up on it. I'm thinking of making muffins with the jar that I have.

Hi Jo,

Meatballs = bi bim bap? This I have to see. Milgwimper...we're waiting! =)