MEATBALLS
300g/10oz minced/ground beef
200g/7oz minced/ground pork
60g/1 cup soft white breadcrumbs
1tbsp chopped parsley
1tsp ground allspice
½tsp ground nutmeg
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
Salt and white pepper
50ml/3½tbsp vegetable oil
SAUCE
30g/2tbsp butter
30g/3⅔tbsp plain/all-purpose flour
300ml/1¼ cups beef stock
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1tsp Dijon mustard
2tsp soya sauce
Salt and white pepper
100ml/scant ½ cup double/heavy cream
SALAD
4 heads chicory/endive
2 crisp eating apples
100g/3½oz Roquefort
1tsp cider vinegar
1tsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
50g/⅓ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
20g/1 cup parsley leaves
Ingela was never without a bag of homemade Swedish meatballs in the freezer. We eat a big dish of them every Christmas Eve, but they’re welcome at any point: as soon as the temperature drops, I start to crave them. We often eat them with just lingonberry jam and boiled potatoes, but at Christmas it’s worth making this creamy sauce, and a sharp winter salad to sit alongside.
Serves 6
1. First, make the meatballs. Put all the ingredients, except the oil, in a large mixing bowl. Squash together using your hands until well combined, and then roll generous teaspoons of the mixture into balls.
2. Pour the oil into a frying pan, and warm over a low heat. Fry the meatballs until golden all over, and cooked through – do break one open to make sure.*
3. While the meatballs are frying, make a start on the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and stir the flour into it with a wooden spoon. Cook for a couple of minutes. Pour the beef stock in slowly, and whisk until it starts to thicken. Season with Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, soya sauce, salt, and pepper. Taste to make sure you’re happy, then add the cream, whisk, and remove from the heat.
4. To make the salad, trim the base off the chicory and rinse the leaves. Core the apples, and slice into thin wedges. Toss these together, and crumble the Roquefort over the top.
5. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, and oil together, then season with salt and pepper. Toss through the salad, then top with the walnuts and parsley.
6. Serve the meatballs with a generous ladleful of the sauce, the salad, boiled potatoes and some lingonberry jam.
* You can refridgerate or freeze them at this point and re-heat when needed.