Meatballs with creamy gravy

A true Swedish meal! That's what was served in the Minty house today. Kids were indeed starving by the time dinner was served, but they ate and ate and ate! I'll take that as a compliment. The inspiration for this recipe I have found at kryddburken, then tried a few different ways and this is now my ultimate meatball recipe.

Meatballs

500g beef mince

500g pork mince

1 large brown onion, or 2 smaller ones

4 tbsp water

1 pork stock cube

1 beef stock cube

2 slices ryvita crispbread

1 egg

2 tbsp natural yoghurt+

½ tsp salt (or less if you wish)

¼ tsp mixed white and black pepper

1 tsp all-round spice

1-2 tbsp olive oil

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees. Crumble stock cubes into 4 tbsp boiling water and dissolve. Break 2 slices of ryvita crispbread into the stock, and stir so all the pieces are wet. Leave to soak for a bit so the crispbread goes soft.

Transfer the stock mixture to a jug/cup that works with your hand blender. Chop the onion and add to the stock mixture along with 2 tbsp natural yoghurt. Puree until smooth it’s smooth and looks like this:

I do this not to have big onion pieces in my meatballs as it used to be the worst thing I knew as a child. 

Put the mince into a large mixing bowl and add the stock and onion mix, the egg, salt, pepper and all-round spice. Mix preferably with your fingers (or a fork) until it’s all smooth.

Roll meatballs and put on a plate or chopping board. The larger your meatballs, the longer they will take to cook. Put 1-2 tbsp olive oil in an oven proof tray and heat up on its own in the oven for about 10 minutes. 





Take the tray out and place the meatballs on the tray. The first few meatballs should sizzle. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, stirring the meatballs and turning them every now and then once they start to brown. I usually pour most of the fat out after about half the baking time, leaving only a little to keep meatballs from burning.

Creamy gravy
Dissolve stock cube in hot water and stir in the Elmlea little by little letting it heat up in between. You can of course use real cream, I only prefer Elmlea on an everyday basis as it’s a little bit kinder to the waistline (and lasts longer in the fridge). Pour in a dash of soy sauce to brown it a bit (I use a Swedish soy sauce made just for colouring rather than flavouring. This picture shows sauce without colouring soy sauce.

Serve meatballs with boiled potatoes, creamy gravy, salad, and if you want to make it proper Swedish: Lingonberry Jam which you can stock up on at IKEA.