Swedish Meatballs

This is the first time that I have the same recipe both on my Greek and my English Blog..
The reason is this famous recipe that my son loves to eat every time we visit IKEA.  I did a search to find the recipe and when I finally made it, I was so excited! It's by far more delicious, comforting, with this hint of sweetness from the Lingonberry (Cranberry Jam). I paired it with mashed potatoes but you can also do crispy fries.. Yum!!
The original recipe has 1/2 cup of cream in the sauce. If you want to use it, remove 1/2 cup of beef broth..
So.. here we go..


 Ingredients (30 meatballs)

For the meatballs
400 - 500 gr ground beef
The meat of 2 soft Italian pork sausages (you can use 300 gr ground pork instead)
a handful of mixed chopped herbs (parsley, chives, dill)
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon 5 spices (you can use just allspice)
Salt - Pepper

For the sauce and Lingonberry
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon  flour
2 cups beef stock
Salt - Pepper
Cranberry Jam or blackberry or blackcurrant jam for serving

How to make

Put into a large bowl the ground beef, meat of the sausages, herbs, egg, milk, breadcrumbs, spices, salt and pepper.

Scrunch and mix the mixture well. Wet your hands and roll approximately 30 small meatballs. Keep wetting your hands so you get nice round meatballs. Lay them in a dish with parchment paper, cover with plastic and leave them into the fridge for one hour.

When you're ready to cook, preheat the grill in 500 F and broil the meatballs 10 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other. Keep warm
Add the beef stock, lemon juice and a tablespoon of cranberry jam in a pot and place over medium heat. Keep warm.
Add the tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and place over medium heat. When the butter melts add the flour to make a roux. Stir for 2 minutes and add a lug of the warm beef stock, stir and add the rest of the beef stock. Whisk the sauce and boil to reduce until you have the consistency of a gravy (not too thick).

For the mashed potatoes, cover yukon gold potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil uncovered.
When the potatoes are tender, drain and let them cool down a bit so you can handle and peel them.
Add them back to the pot, add a stick of butter, some milk, salt and pepper and mash them. Remove from heat when you have the right consistency.

Serve the mashed potatoes with approximately 8 meatballs per serving, drizzle with the gravy and add a teaspoon of lingonberry.

Enjoy!!!