Swedish Meatballs

Nagi Maehashi’s Swedish meatballs combine beef and pork with white bread softened in grated onion and its juice. Nutmeg and allspice give the meatballs a subtle spicing, and the browned pan residue flavours their creamy gravy.

The onion is grated and scraped with its juice into a bowl of crustless, cubed white bread. A little milk can be added if the bread is not sufficiently damp; the meat, egg, nutmeg, allspice, black pepper and salt are then mixed in and rolled into balls.

The meatballs brown in two batches in oil, leaving their centres unfinished. Excess oil is discarded if there is a lot, while butter and flour cook in the same pan to begin the gravy.

Beef stock is added gradually, beginning with about a quarter of the measured portion. The meatballs and their pooled juices return to the simmering sauce and cook until the gravy thickens, before cream is stirred in and simmered briefly.

The meatballs and creamy gravy are served over prepared mashed potato. Maehashi also suggests a dollop of lingonberry jam alongside the beef-and-pork meatballs.