I will admit that it may seem a little odd to emulate a recipe from a low cost furniture store.
But hey, I am a little odd. I also like Ikea and I liked their meatballs!
I haven’t had them in years, in-fact I think they may have stopped selling them for a while after a little snag with nags, a horsey hiccup, a stable scandal, if you catch my drift…
Anyway, I thought I’d try and recreate the delicious little morsels of Swedish heaven swimming in their rich, creamy bath of gravy. This time though; no freezers, no ponies, no nasties just good quality ingredients.
It’s taken 4 or 5 tries and some very full tasters, but I think I’ve finally cracked it.
I’m rather excited to share my Ultimate Swedish Meatball recipe, I think you’ll really enjoy them.
Apologies in advance to any Swedes if this isn’t how your mamma makes ’em. This is my London/Stockholm hybrid!
The number of servings depends on what you’re serving it with. If you’re going to spoon them over a lovely bowl of pasta then this recipe serves 4. If *ahem* you’re going to sit cross legged and eat them right out of the pan with a spoon and then drink the gravy like soup… it serves 2.
You’ll need:
Around 500g free-range pork meatballs (I like these)
Knob of butter
1tbsp plain flour
300ml chicken stock
1tbsp mustard
1-2tbsp Worcester sauce
1tsp honey
300ml double cream
Salt n pepper
Big pinch of dried parsley
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Drop a knob of butter in, you want enough so that when it melts it covers the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle salt & pepper over your meatballs and when the butter’s melted add them to the pan. Fry and keep moving them around until they’re brown almost all over. Not beige, properly browned. While they’re cooking preheat your oven to about 100C/200F. When your meatballs look done, transfer them to an oven-proof dish and pop them into the oven to keep warm.
You should have a little fat and butter left in the pan. Tilt the pan to one side so it makes a pool. Add your flour and stir it in until you have a pretty smooth paste. Now add your stock, turn the heat up a little and bring it to the boil while stirring and scraping all the flour from the bottom of the pan.
Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes and thicken. While it’s working its magic, add your mustard, honey and Worcester sauce. Turn the heat down to medium again, remove your balls from the oven and pour your cream into your sauce. Stir it all together and add your balls to the gravy.
Let it all bubble away for a few minutes. Taste the sauce and see if it needs anything. The balance of flavours here is totally up to you.
When you think it’s perfect, sprinkle your parsley over the top and serve!
You might want to give your guest(s)/yourself a spoon for all that delicious gravy!
Smaklig måltid!
(Bon appetit!)
