We’re making meatballs

Meatballs with mashed potatoes, cream sauce, pressed and pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam was served to us by our grandmothers and mothers. And I guess it will always be a favorite. Forget the ones from IKEA. This is the real thing!

Meatballs

• 500 g minced Beef
• 2 Egg
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1 bread Roll, only the content (or other fresh white bread)
• 0,5-1 decilitre Milk or Cream
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 5-6 Cloves
• 5-6 Pimentos
• Salt
• Black pepper

Blend everything together, crush the pimento and the clove in a mortar, let the mixture draw for a few minutes. Form the meatballs with wet hands and fry them in a pan with butter.

Mashed potatoes

• 8-10 Potatoes
• 1 decilitre Yoghurt
• 1-2 decilitre Milk
• a knob of Butter
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• Black pepper

Boil the potatoes, when they’re done pull out the water and mash the potatoes. Use an electric mixer, add a knob of butter, nutmeg and yoghurt and mix. Gradually add the milk until you get preferred consistency. Spice it with salt and black pepper.

Pressed and pickled cucumber

• 1 Cucumber
• 1-2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 decilitre Water
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Vinegar essence
• Parsley

Slice the cucumber thinly, put it in a bowl with the salt. Put a lid (or a plate) on top of the cucumbers and add a weight to press it down. Leave it for 30 minutes. Blend water, sugar and vinegar essence.

Pour out the water from the pressed cucumber and put the cucumber in a glass jar, add chopped parsley and pour the fluid into the jar. Leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you eat it.

Brown sauce

• Cream
• Beef broth
• Soy sauce
• Sauce thickener
• Salt
• Black pepper

Make the sauce in the pan where you fried the meatballs without washing it in between. Add the ingredients depending of your own taste, you can of course exchange the cream for milk. Stir everything until you have a nice consistency and a tasty sauce.

The lingonberry jam is bought in Sweden and not homemade.

Music: CEO – the swede Eric Berglund – and his latest record White Magic.

Fishing for compliments?

Many friends of mine do not understand the greatness of cod. The reason is that we Swedes have grown up with over cooked cod served for lunch in school. If you can get hold of a thick cod loin I promise you, you’ll change your mind about this culinary treasure.

This is an easy recipe that will get you many compliments – Cod fillets with lemon flavoured vegetables and foam from heads of dill.

• 600 g thick fillet of Cod
• 5 decilitre water
• 30 g Salt
• 6 Carrots
• 6 Parsnips
• 2 Spring onions
• 1 Lemon, the juice
• 4 tbsp double Cream
• 3 heads of Dill
• 4 decilitre Milk
• 2 Tomatoes
• Chives

Cod

Make four pieces out of the cod and put it in salted water for 15 min. Wipe the cod dry with a piece of kitchen paper, put the pieces on oven paper and bake it in the oven at 100⁰C until the fish temperature reaches 45⁰C. It takes about 10-15 min depending on the thickness of the fish.

Vegetables

Slice the parsnips and carrots in to roundels (3 mm thick). Braise the vegetables in lemon juice, a pinch of salt and sugar, water (just enough to cover the veggies) and the cream. When the veggies are al dente, add chopped spring onions and pour out the fluid. Use a strain, that is the easiest way.

Foam

Pour the milk, heads of dill, salt and pepper in a saucepan, heat it until it simmer. Take the saucepan off the stove and mix the fluid to a foam with a hand blender.

Garnish

Peel the tomatoes, remove the core and cut the tomato flesh into small pieces. Mix it with chopped chives and a pinch of salt.

Music: the cooking was accompanied by the great last album from Robyn – Body talk pt. 1