Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes (Köttbullar med Potatismos)

Serves 2

Since we love the idea that these lightly fragrant meatballs are served a in a creamy sauce (perfect to top mashed potatoes), we discovered after digging as little deeper in our research that traditional Swedish Meatballs are in fact not served in a creamy sauce at all. That part is entirely up to you, but we know you will love it this way as much as we did! This is likely to yield more meatballs than you and your partner can finish in one sitting, so freeze the ones you don’t cook, or simply enjoy the leftovers the next day! This dish is popularly served with lingonberry sauce, but that can be tricky to source, so we feel free to substitute with cranberry or redcurrant jelly.

250g lean beef mince
250g lean pork mince
1 egg
¾ tsp ground allspice
pinch nutmeg
1 small-medium onion (100g), peeled and quartered
2 slices bread, crusts removed
salt and white pepper
olive oil
2 tsp flour
1 cup warm beef stock
1/3 cup double cream
mashed potatoes, to serve
cranberry or redcurrant jelly, to serve
curly parsley, to garnish

Combine the beef and pork mince in a large bowl. Add the egg, allspice and nutmeg. Place the onion pieces into a mini food processor and add the bread, torn into pieces. Blitz the mixture very well, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between blitzing. You should be left with a moist puree. Add this to the meatball mixture. Season with salt and white pepper and mix well to combine the mixture.

Weigh out 20g of mince and form into a ball using a teaspoon to help compact the little meatball. Use this size visually as a guideline and continue to make meatballs using the remaining mince. You should yield approx. 30 meatballs placed on a tray. Cover and set aside in the fridge. You can make these ahead of time.

When ready to cook, heat a little olive oil in a large pan and brown the meatballs in 3 or 4 batches over high heat until browned and crispy on the outside, before removing and setting aside and doing another batch (possibly with a little more oil.) They are unlikely to be cooked on the inside, but that’s ok for now. We do this in batches to avoid over-crowding the pan which will reduce the pan’s heat, causing the meatballs to lose their shape and ‘boil’ in their own juices.

After all the meatballs have browned, add the flour and scrape the bottom of the pan to release the lovely crispy bit. Pour in the warm beef stock and reduce the heat to a light simmer, whisking continuously. Return the meatballs to the pan and allow to simmer until the stock reduces by two-thirds. This step will finish the cooking of the meatballs. Stir in the double cream and warm through gently to thicken - being careful not to split the sauce