Swedish Meatballs

One of my most favourite things to make with ground beef is meatballs. Meatballs are so much fun - add them to pasta, make a sweet chili sauce, cook 'em up with pineapple and peppers in a sweet and sour dish... the possibilities are endless! One of my foodie friends once told me about the amazingness that is the meatballs from the Ikea cafeteria. I was skeptical of how good meatballs at a furniture store could be, but these ones blew me away, especially with the tangy lingonberry sauce. Weeks later, I happened across lingonberry sauce in Superstore and bought it in case I ever had the inclination to recreate the Ikea-style meatballs. Sure enough, the craving hit again, and I ended up making the following recipe. The meatball recipe is now my go-to recipe whenever I want to make a meatball dish - all I do is change the sauce, and sometimes the seasoning. Also, there's an adaptation at the bottom to make these meatballs gluten-free for those in your family who may be sensitive to wheat.

Swedish Meatballs
Adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures

Meatballs:
2 eggs
1/3 cup cream or milk
5 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1 large onion, finely diced or grated
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef

Sauce:
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb button mushrooms, sliced
salt & pepper
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups beef broth
2 tbs brown sugar
1/3 cup cream
1 tbs apple cider vinegar

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Stir in bread and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine grated onion, spices, sugar, baking powder and ground pork and mix well. If you're not squeamish, now is a good time to get in there with your hands.

Mash bread mixture with a fork until no large bread chunks remain. Add to the pork and mix until well combined, then add beef and mix in thoroughly.

Form into 1-1.5" meatballs with wet hands or a small ice cream scoop - should make 48 meatballs.

Place meatballs on a greased baking sheet, or in the wells of a greased mini muffin pan, and bake at 350F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a wide-bottomed, heavy saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, melt together olive oil and 2 tbsp butter over medium high heat. Add mushrooms, season with salt & pepper, and water - stir and cover with lid. Let cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove lid, lower heat and allow mushrooms to continue cooking, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are a lovely golden brown all over and are nicely caramelized. Deglaze pan with a splash of white wine or water, cook until liquid has evaporated, and remove mushrooms to a bowl. Set aside.

In the same saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium high heat until sizzling. Add flour and whisk together to make a roux. Whisk constantly until mixture is a light golden brown, then whisk in broths. Stir in mushrooms & sugar, bring to a simmer and allow to reduce until nice and thick. Stir in cream and reduce heat to medium.

Add meatballs to the sauce, and simmer until heated through. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Serves 6-8

To make gluten-free, cook 1 cup of brown rice in 1.5 cups water. Omit milk but soak cooked rice with egg as per directions above. Mash and proceed with the recipe as usual.