Earth Eats: Swedish Meatballs in a Creamy Sauce with Mashed Potatoes, and Lingonberry Jam

Sweden is a Northern European country that is part of Scandinavia. The land that gave the world Pippi Longstocking (or Pippi Långstrump as she is known in Sweden), crispbread, Ikea, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Ann-Margret, Roxette, Ace of Base, The Cardigans, that awful (to me) and unmentionable band with the name that starts with A, the band Europe…and a bunch of other culturally important people and things. But the best thing to ever (as in like ever to infinity) come out of Sweden is my boyfriend Alexander Skarsgård…He’s dreamy…

Okay, so besides Alexander there are many wonderful things that Sweden gave to the world, like their national dish. I think it’s safe to assume that even if people haven’t eaten Swedish food, everyone has heard of Swedish meatballs. I have to admit that other than crispbread I had never eaten Swedish food. Regardless, I was super excited to give Swedish food a try and feature it as this Earth Eats instalment.
 

Since I am a total beginner to this cuisine, I spent many hours researching it. After looking up recipes I decided to go with the national dish of meatballs (or köttbullar) served in a creamy brown sauce, and with mashed potatoes, pickles, and lingonberry sauce. The meal was a huge success and one that will happily go into the rotation of comforting cold weather meals.

First let’s start with the lingonberry sauce: What exactly are lingonberries? According to Wikipedia “Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingonberry or cowberry) is a short evergreen shrub in the heath family that bears edible fruit, native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America.” These berries are tiny in size but huge in flavour. They are naturally quite sour and so are mixed with sugar to make sauce or jams.People often compare them to cranberries, but they are quite different from each other in size, smell, and taste. Both are remarkably delicious and pair well with many foods. In fact, lingonberry jam is a staple on the Swedish table.

I (luckily) found a package of frozen lingonberries, and this is what I used to make the sauce. After thawing out I could smell a strong and bitter scent. Placing one in my mouth I tasted a strongly sour flavour that somehow still resembled a berry. The taste is quite unique. I highly recommend that you look for the lingonberry in your grocery store’s frozen section or where the jams are kept. If not your local IKEA will surely carry the jam or perhaps even the frozen berries. The lingonberry sauce is a wonderful tart and sweet addition to the meatballs and mashed potatoes, so do try to get your hands on some.

After reading many recipes for the traditional Swedish meatball, I settled on this one. The ingredients list and technique deeply intrigued me. First off, I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of meatballs, but I was still marching on with the dish. Am I glad that I did, these meatballs were among the very best I have ever tasted. Kalle’s recipe intrigued me because it didn’t involve using a bunch of breadcrumbs or eggs — them there’s the addition of beer, stock and cream; Simply fantastic!

I followed his meatballs recipe as he shared it. When I mixed in the liquid to the meat, it took on a very smooth and creamy texture. The seasoning is so simple, but the meatballs are bursting with delectable smells and flavours. Words can’t describe it.  As for the lingonberry sauce I swapped out the sugar and used honey instead. The mashed potatoes are from my own trusty recipe. I know the ingredients list is long, but the process is super simple and it really doesn’t take that long to prepare. Let’s get to it, shall we?
 

5.0 from 2 reviews

Swedish Meatballs in a Creamy Sauce with Mashed Potatoes, and Lingonberry Jam

 

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

A fantastic recipe for Sweden's national dish of meatballs. This must taste dish is courtesy of Kalle, the original may be viewed here http://honestcooking.com/best-swedish-meatballs-recipe/

Author: Adapted from http://honestcooking.com/best-swedish-meatballs-recipe/

Recipe type: Dinner, Lunch, Pot-Luck

Cuisine: Swedish

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

Meatball Ingredients:

• 1⅓ Ib (600 g) of lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of beef stock
• 2 tablespoons of dark beer
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• half a teaspoon of sea salt
• large pinch of black pepper

Cream Sauce Ingredients:

• ½ cup of beef stock
• 1½ cup of heavy cream
• large pinch fine sea salt
• large pinch of white pepper
• 1 small knob of unsalted butter
• a pinch of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of corn starch, mixed with a little cold water

Lingonberry Jam Ingredients:

• 1½ cups of lingonberries
• 1½ cups of sugar

Additional Ingredients:

• mashed potatoes
• pickled cucumbers slices
• fresh dill

Instructions

Lingonberry Jam Instructions:

1. Defrost the lingonberries, rinse them and drain too. Place inside a pot with the sugar and under medium-low heat simmer until they have broken down, become a thick sauce. Turn the heat off and set aside.

Mashed Potatoes:

1. You should make them now, then set aside while the meatballs are prepared.

Meatball Instructions:

1. Peel and finely chop the onion. Sauté it with a bit of butter until soft and translucent. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix bread crumbs, heavy cream, beer and stock. Set aside for 5 minutes.Place the ground beef in a large bowl, add the onions and the beer/bread mixture. Season with salt and pepper, then mix until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap, place inside refrigerator for 10 minutes.
3. Shape the meatballs into a diameter of roughly one inch. Heat a bit of butter or oil in a large pan, then fry the meatballs in batches until cooked through. They are ready when they are slightly crispy on the outside. Set aside while making the sauce.

Cream Sauce Instructions:

1. Deglace the frying pan with a littlewater and add the stock. Reduce by half, and then add the cream. Bring to a simmer, and thicken with butter and corn starch. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Taste and season it with salt, sugar and white pepper. Add the meatballs to the sauce, or serve them separately.

To Serve:

1. Serve the meatballs with a scoop of mashed potatoes, a spoonful of lingonberry sauce, a few slices of pickles, and a sprinkling of the fresh dill.

Notes

In lieu of homemade lingonberry jam, store-bought jelly may be used. Alternatively red currant jelly or even cranberry sauce may be used -- please notice that the taste will be totally different, still good though!

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I hope you too will give this amazing recipe a try sometime. We ate it for two days in a row and absolutely loved it. The lingo berry jam made a huge batch and I used the leftovers in some creative ways — I’ll share soon.
 

The following are interesting books on Swedish cuisine you may want to check out.