Clarkson Family Recipe Book

Better than any meatballs you will ever have at Ikea. For a full Swedish Christmas Dinner, we would serve Swedish Meatballs, Swedish Potatoes, and prepare a baked Ham, along with any vegetables and other sides you like.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
3 slices fresh white bread (or 1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs)
1/3 cup milk or heavy cream
2/3 cup onion, finely diced
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp flour

3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup sour cream

1/8 tsp allspice, cardamom, nutmeg, and pepper

1 tsp salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

If using fresh bread: Tear the bread into pieces and place in your mixing bowl along with the milk.

In a skillet, melt 1 tbsp of the butter and add the onions – cook until soft.

In your mixing bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer), combine the bread and milk mixture (or add breadcrumbs and milk now), ground beef and pork, egg yolks, salt, pepper, allspice, cardamon, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed 1-2 minutes until well combined.

Portion out meatballs into roughly 1-ounce balls – I use my cookie scoop to do this – and place on a baking sheet. The recipe makes roughly 54 meatballs using a standard cookie scoop. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes at 400.

Remove the meatballs and let them cool a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack over another sheet pan, or to a plate. Add the boiling water to the sheet pan used to bake the meatballs (I usually end up using 2 pans, adding 1/2 cup of water to each) and using a rubber scraper or spatula, gently scrape up the browned bits. Let this cool for a few minutes before pouring into a gravy separator or other bowl – this will help you make the gravy.

At this point the meatballs can be stored in the fridge for a few days, or frozen. Once you are ready to heat and serve, proceed with the next steps.

Heat the remaining 2 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk to form a roux, cooking for a few minutes until lightly browned. Gradually add in the reserved meatball juices (browned bits and water from sheet pans) and the beef broth. Cook, whisking often, until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and spices as desired. Add the sour cream and stir to combine.

Add the meatballs to the gravy and cook until warmed through. Be sure not to let the gravy boil as this can curdle the sour cream.

Serve meatballs with gravy poured over them. Best when paired with Swedish Potatoes.