Meat mains
Swedish meatballs with mash, winter greens & cranberry sauce
This is dedicated to Anders, a jolly Swede who has the unenviable task of tracking and planning our available produce every week. Having been raised on the stuff, he has vetted this recipe, gracefully accepting a dab of cranberry sauce in favour of the traditional lingonberry. A warming, Swedish comfort dish and not a packet of tea lights in sight.
Cook's notes
A simple tip when making meatballs is to wet your hands when shaping them – it keeps the mix from sticking. The mash should be nice and firm to soak up the sauce, but if you want it a little looser then add some of the leftover soured cream.
Ingredients
- 700g potatoes
- 150g minced beef
- 150g minced pork
- 50g dried bread crumbs
- ½ tsp allspice
- 1 egg
- ½ veg stock cube
- 1 head black kale
- oil for frying, e.g. sunflower or light olive
- 25g butter
- ½ tsp caraway seeds
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp dried dill
- 4 tbsp soured cream
- 3 tbsp cranberry sauce
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Peel the potatoes and chop them into large (3cm) chunks. Add them to a large saucepan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer until perfectly tender, about 15 minutes.
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Step 2
While the potatoes are cooking, add the pork, beef, bread crumbs and allspice to the mixing bowl. Beat the egg and add to the bowl with a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix everything together well and shape into 16 even-sized balls.
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Step 3
Put a kettle on to boil and crumble half the stock cube into the measuring jug. Add 400ml of boiling water and whisk until the cube has dissolved. Strip the leaves from the stalk of the black kale.
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Step 4
Discard the stalks and wash the leaves, drain and roughly chop them. Drain the potatoes and return to the pan, leaving them to sit and steam for 5 minutes while you get the meatballs on.
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Step 5
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the frying pan, add the meatballs and fry gently, turning often until well browned, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the butter to the pan of drained potatoes. Place over a gentle heat until the butter has just melted.
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Step 6
Mash together into a smooth but firm mash – you can loosen it with a little soured cream later if you like. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the other saucepan and cook the black kale for 10 minutes until wilted and tender. Add the caraway seeds to the kale half way through cooking.
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Step 7
Season with salt and pepper. While the kale cooks, remove the meatballs (easiest with a slotted spoon) and keep to one side. Tip the pan so that all the oil pools on one side, sprinkle in the flour and mix with the oil until all the lumps have disappeared.
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Step 8
Cook gently for 2 minutes before slowly whisking in the warm stock. Add 2 tablespoons of soured cream, the mustard and the dill. Simmer for 5 minutes before adding the meatballs back into the pan to heat through.
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Step 9
The sauce should be thick enough to just coat the meatballs. Simmer for 5 minutes more. If the sauce looks like splitting at any point just whisk in a dash of hot water. To serve, reheat the mash gently, turning constantly to avoid burning.
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Step 10
Divide the mash between 2 plates and spoon over the meatballs and their sauce. Serve with the wilted greens and a blob of cranberry sauce. Smaklig måltid!
