Svenska Kottbullar (Swedish Meatballs)
Easy and classic, lightly spiced Swedish meatballs in a creamy sauce.
Today's we are excited to welcome our friend Camilla, from Culinary Adventures with Camilla as a guest author. She is passionate about exposing her family to the flavors of different cultures and her children regularly join her in the kitchen for their world "traveling" adventures. You can follow their explorations on her blog, or via Facebook or Twitter. Today she has a taste of Sweden to share, Svenska Kottbullar, better known in the States as Swedish Meatballs.
Now, to Camilla.
Making Meatballs
When Sarah emailed me about doing a guest post for Curious Cuisiniere - to share a cultural recipe - I was thrilled. My family and I have been on a travel by tabletop adventure for a few years now; here were my well-laid plans for our Culinary Adventures Around the World. I had initially hoped to knock out all of the countries within a year. That didn't happen. But we're making our way around the world slowly. Slowly. And while the boys love learning about other countries, I am learning some new culinary techniques from this project.
When I began to look back through our adventures, one dish kept popping up: meatballs. Stuffed meatballs. Giant meatballs. Small meatballs. Meatballs in soup….
It appears that I could re-name our tabletop travels "meatballs around the world!" We've made so many variations from all around the world: Bengali Koftar Johl; Azerbijani Fisinjan Plov, meatballs in a pomegranate sauce; Columbian Albóndigas de Pavo con Salsa de Guayaba; Bitokes, creamy meatballs from Russia; Tajine-el-Khoukh, meatballs wrapped in mashed potatoes from Algeria; and Ciorba de Perisoare, sour meatball soup from Romania, just to name a few.
Enjoying Swedish Meatballs
So, when we were out of town for Spring Break with friends, earlier this month, I had planned three different country's menus for the kids to cook. I opted to share one of the recipes we prepared there because it's easy and my mother-in-law is half-Swedish, so it's meaningful to our family. The youngest two in our crew took care of the meatballs from Sweden, Svenska Kottbullar. As always, our recipes are not always ultra-traditional; they are adapted to our locale and whatever I have in the pantry. For example, our Svenska are not pan-fried, they are baked. But feel free to cook the meatballs however you prefer.
We served our Svenska Kottbullar with Janssons Frestelse, a potato-anchovy casserole, on the side and a Morotskaka, Swedish carrot cake, for dessert. Smaklig måltid!
Svenska Kottbullar (Swedish Meatballs)
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef (we prefer organic, grass-fed, 95% lean)
- 1 onion, diced
- ½ c Panko bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- salt (to taste)
- ground black pepper (to taste)
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoon salted butter
- ¼ c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 c beef broth (we prefer low sodium)
- 1 c heavy whipping cream
- salt (to taste)
- ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
For the Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Use a wooden spoon or clean hands to blend ingredients until well-combined. Roll walnut-sized meatballs and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake meatballs at 375°F for 35 minutes or until done. They should be firm to the touch when they are done. If you aren’t sure, you can slice open one of the meatballs. They should not be pink in the center at all.
- While the meatballs bake, make the sauce.
For the Sauce
- Use a pan that will allow you to have all of the meatballs in the pan in a single layer. If not, you can do this in batches. Melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until a smooth roux forms. Pour in the beef broth and cream. Simmer, whisking constantly until thickened, approximately 5 minutes. Place the meatballs in the thickened sauce and turn to coat.
- Serve hot. We served our Svenska Kottbullar with Janssons Frestelse, a potato-anchovy casserole, on the side and a Morotskaka, Swedish carrot cake, for dessert. Smaklig måltid!
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Thank you for such good meals ideas from around the world,
You are welcome Josesph. Hope you enjoy them!
I have my Swedish grandmother's recipe for Swedish Meatballs but in a pinch I get IKEA's. Nothing better than homemade though! Will be attending a Swedish Heritage event at New Sweden Texas and Swedish Meatballs, Swedish Brown Bread and other traditional dishes will be on the menu.
That sounds like a tasty event! There truly is nothing better than homemade!