Cutie's Swedish meatballs

Happy Sweden National Day!  Yesterday's National Day only became an official, no-work holiday about three years ago.  My Swedish friends tell me it wasn't a big deal because it's not like Sweden was celebrating escape from tyranny, since they were always the ones ruling over others.

Sweden is a small country, and despite the fact that their IKEAs have taken over our suburbs, they're unaccustomed to celebrating themselves.  Check out this clip of the country's greatest sports moment in recent history, Sweden's bronze medal in the 1994 World Cup:



Happily, Swedes are plenty good at eating and drinking.  My friend Malin invited me over to celebrate National Day over a kick ass Swedish meal at her house, complete with a variety of snaps (including one lovely fläder-flavored one) and a Sweden v. Denmark football match on TV.  We did a shot for every goal scored -- sadly, the Danes prevailed -- not very nice of them. 

The starter was a stunner -- red onion panna cotta with fresh dill and bleak roe toast.  If you've never had bleak roe, you should see if you can hunt some down -- the roe is tiny and orange, mild and not too salty.



I also had my very first plate of meatballs in Sweden!  Can you believe how long I've held out?  I'm glad I waited for homemade ones.  Köttbullar are to Swedish kids as chicken nuggets are to American kids.  Malin's köttbullar are adult-palate friendly, with tons of pepper and dijon mustard.  I think it's important not to make them too big -- Malin's are about the diameter of a nickel, very dainty.  The gravy is made just by adding water to the browning pan -- genius!

I'm translating and converting her recipe for you here (with the help of Google translate, of course). 



Cutie's Spicy Christmas Meatballs

The Allt om Mat staff used to call Malin "Gullemallan", which means "cutie".  The notes say that the milk and breadcrumbs mixed directly into the meat swells, so you get a solid mixture that's easy to roll, but not dense to eat.  At least I think that's what it says.  Serve with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam*, sliced mushrooms sauteed in butter, and sweet pickled cucumbers (you can also try this recipe in English).  We finished dinner with a Swedish strawberry parfait -- himmelsk, as they say.  I'm sure these will make an appearance at the Swedish dinner party I'll have to have when I get back to Brooklyn.

1 yellow onion
1 tbsp. butter
1 kg (2.2 lbs.) ground beef, 10% fat
1 egg
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. four-pepper blend, crushed fine
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. breadcrumbs
1/2 dl (3 1/3 tbsp.) milk
3 tbsp. butter for frying
2 dl (about a cup) water

1. Mince the onion.  Malin says, "It's very important that the onion is chopped into smithereens! Now I always grate it and then chop it some more. If it's too big pieces the small meatballs will crack." Saute in butter.  Let cool.
2. Mix onion, meat, eggs, mustard, salt, pepper, brown sugar, breadcrumbs and milk.
3. Roll very small meatballs (about the circumference of a nickel).  Wet your hands with some cold water if the meat is sticking to your hands.
4. Melt butter in a frying pan, cast iron or nonstick.  Fry a meatball and taste it.  Fix seasoning as needed.
5. Brown meatballs about 20 at a time on high heat in the butter.  Let them fry until brown on all sides, not too long.  Transfer to a large pot on low heat. 
6. Pour a little water into the frying pan, picking up the fond.  Pour this gravy into the pot with the meatballs.
7. Repeat until all meatballs are browned and all water has become gravy.

*When I first posted, I forgot to include the lingonberry jam.  Malin says, "You must serve the meatballs with lingonberry jam! It is important. :)"