Swedish Meatballs

This past summer, I was fortunate enough to travel with Hubby to Sweden for the wedding of our dear friends, Emma and James. I was seven months pregnant, but wasn’t going to miss the event for anything short of a medical emergency. During the trip, I discovered a great love of Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. Unfortunately, once we returned home, there was no ready supply of berries, I was unable to satisfy the cravings that were triggered by the trip.

A couple of days ago, I got a random package in the mail from my dear friend, the Naughty Monkey. It contained a jar of lingonberries and some yummy chocolates. Of course, upon receiving said package, I needed to make meatballs and immediately headed to the grocery store to procure the necessary ingredients.

I got the recipe for my meatballs from Epicurious.com and here it is:
• 1 Pound ground beef
• ¾ cup bread crumbs, soaked in ½ cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, grated and drained
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 ½ Tbsp flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ cup sour cream
• Lingonberry sauce
Combine the first 8 ingredients and form into 1 inch balls. Melt ¾ of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs for about 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the skillet and drain most of the fat. Stir in the flour and remaining butter. Add the chicken broth and stir until it is thickened, about two minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the sour cream. Add the meatballs and heat for another minute or so.

I served the meatballs with Country Crock home-style mashed potatoes, green peas and the lingonberry sauce. Definitely comfort food! The meatballs turned out great and I am definitely proud of myself for expanding my cooking horizons. An added side benefit of the meal was the flood of happy memories that flooded us as we ate them. We spent the evening talking about the fun we had on the trip, the beautiful sights we saw and the incredible food we ate! I cannot wait to bring my kids back there someday!

This entry was posted in Eat. Bookmark the permalink.