I grew up eating Swedish meatballs even though no one in my family has ever been to Sweden nor do we have a Swedish background. I intend to get there one day just to eat these little guys, not because it’s meant to be gorgeous or anything. My mom used to use this sweet, rich sauce (*cough* from a jar *cough*) to coat the meatballs and it was to die for! I absolutely love these delicate little balls of savory sweet meat, so I naturally had to make them for myself.

Swedish meatballs have many cooking varieties but I decided to go for a rich beef gravy type of sauce with a sweet lingonberry jam to accompany it. If you are bringing these meatballs to a smörgåsbord, you could skip the beef sauce and just coat with the jam to make for an easy hand-held one-bite meatball. Another method is mixing the jam into the sauce before serving. The recipe below is my favourite preparation because even though the meatballs are cooked in a beef broth, you still get that pop of sweetness from dipping them in the jam. If you cannot find lingonberry jam, red currant jam works just as well. Do yourself a favour and make these instead of going IKEA to get them!

Yield: Makes 14 medium-sized meatballs

Ingredients:

• ¾ pound ground beef
• ¼ pound ground pork
• 1 slice of white bread (about ½ cup), crumbled
• ¼ white or Spanish onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup half and half
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp salt + pinch for dipping sauce
• ½ tsp pepper for meat + ½ tsp for beef sauce
• 4 tbsp butter (add 5 if you want more, who cares)
• 2 tsp flour (add an extra tsp if you add more than 4 tbsp of butter)
• 3 tbsp sour cream for dipping sauce + 1 tbsp for beef sauce
• 2 tbsp lingonberry jam

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Soak the crumbled bread in the cream and milk for about 10-15 minutes while you prepare everything else.

Mix the sour cream, lingonberry jam and a pinch of salt together to make the dipping sauce for the meatballs. Set aside and keep cool until ready to serve.

Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a medium-low heated large ovenproof sauté pan. Add in onions and cook for 5-7 minutes, until they become slightly translucent. Remove the onions from the heat and transfer to a bowl. To this bowl, add in the ground beef, pork, soaked bread, egg, allspice, teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Gently mix everything together being careful not to over mix. Roll the meat mixture into about 14 medium meatballs. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set the balls.

Heat the sauté pan that the onions were cooked in on medium heat. Add 3-4 tablespoons of butter. Once melted, add in the meatballs in one layer so every meatball can sear. Brown the meatballs for 5 minutes or until every side is slightly charred (the inside will still be pink and that’s okay). Turn the heat off and add in the broth. Cover the pan with foil and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. If your pan is not oven safe, transfer everything to a large baking dish, cover and bake.

Remove the pan from the oven and remove the foil. Take the meatballs out of the pan and set aside so we can finish the sauce. Place the pan containing the beef sauce on a burner and heat to medium. Whisk in the flour until incorporated (just a couple minutes). Turn the heat off and stir in 1 tablespoon of sour cream and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and serve alongside the lingonberry cream sauce.