IKEA Swedish Meatballs

I previously made an oven-baked Swedish meatball recipe and talked a little about Grandma's Swedish traditions during the holidays. My Grandma passed away about 10 years ago, and we don't keep with the traditional Swedish meal of Swedish meatballs, rutamuse and lutefisk.  However, I am still a biiiggg fan of Swedish meatballs and always enjoying trying different recipes. My cousin and I usually cook the Christmas meal and maybe one year we need to try a throwback to a few of my Grandma's offerings. 

Everyone always raves about IKEA's meatballs and I have never had a chance to try them. The closest IKEA is 3 hours away and not a regular stop for me. I knew there must be a recipe online and I found a great recipe form a blogger using the IKEA cookbook and an adapted recipe with US measurements and adjustments as well. The meatballs are very easy to make and I was surprised to find potatoes as some of the ingredients!

How did the meatballs stack up to Grandma's holiday meatballs? They were really delicious! The gravy was a little lighter than my Grandma's, but it was very tasty with the meatballs. I loved the texture of the meatballs and they reminded me a lot of my Grandma.  Traditionally, the meatballs are served with boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam, but I had some egg noodles to use and opted to serve them over pasta.

Last night we played a really fun volleyball game and today my friend Emily is stopping after work for dinner and a little SVU watching!  It is much cooler in my area this week and today's high is 58 degrees- fall is here! I am really looking forward to this weekend and a trip to Door County. I am thinking that a little apple picking will need to be added to the agenda! The following weekend I am heading to Washington Island to have my apples pressed!

Ingredients

1⁄2 lb ground beef

1⁄2 lb ground pork

1 egg

1⁄2 cup whole milk

1⁄2 cup water

1 small onion, grated

1⁄4 cup breadcrumbs 

2 small cold boiled yukon gold potatoes, grated

2 Tbl butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 dash allspice 

Butter

Flour

For Cream Sauce:

1 Tbl flour

1 Tbl butter

1⁄2 cup half-and-half

1 cup low sodium beef broth

1⁄4 teaspoon soy sauce

salt, to taste

white pepper, to taste

Instructions

For Meatballs:

Fry the onion till golden in a tablespoon or 2 of  butter.

Mix all the ingredients until evenly mixed

Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch round balls and roll in flour.

Fry them slowly in plenty of butter. When they are all cooked, cover and keep warm while you prepare cream sauce.

Cream Sauce:

Melt butter in pan and add flour, whisk till golden brown.

Add beef stock, soy sauce and cream until desired thickness.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve sauce over the meatballs with boiled potatoes or pasta.

Yields about 22-24 meatballs.