Homemade meatballs, cream sauce and mashed potatoes have become one of our absolute favourites. From being a rather bland everyday dish, it has become one of our most appreciated weekend favourites. Here we tell you the "secrets"!
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Delicious homemade meatballs
Good homemade meatballs can be more than an everyday dish. If cooked well, and served with good accompaniments, it can be a luxury dinner. What can you do with the leftover meatballs? Serve them on the Christmas table of course! Or maybe put them on a meatball sandwich. Meatballs are never wrong!
Peter's best recipe for homemade meatballs
Peter has been experimenting with Swedish cuisine for quite some time, and last summer we told him about 17 Swedish dishes that we have served to our foreign guests. One of the most popular dishes was meatballs, with their own mashed potatoes and cream sauce, lingonberries and pickles. Now, just in time for Christmas, Peter shares his recipe!
Recipe for homemade meatballs
Here is Peter's best recipe for homemade meatballs. To make the meatballs juicy and tender, he always uses mixed mince, with half beef and half pork.
You need (4 people)
- Mixed mince 50/50 (500 grams)
- breadcrumbs (0,5 dl)
- Yellow onion (1 piece)
- Garlic (one clove)
- Eggs (1 piece)
- Cream (1 dl)
- Dijon mustard (1 tbsp)
- Japanese soya (1 tbsp)
- Salt and pepper
- Butter (a little, to fry in)
How to do this
- Mix the cream and breadcrumbs. Leave to swell for 10 minutes.
- Grate the onion and garlic clove.
- Mix the grated onion and garlic, Dijon mustard and soya into the bread mixture.
- Add the minced meat and work the mince thoroughly, together with salt and pepper.
- Moisten your hands with cold water and shape the meatballs. If you want, you can use a skewer.
- Fry a few meatballs at a time in cooking fat, shaking the pan from time to time so that the meatballs roll around and stay round.
Recipe for mashed potatoes
If you ask Peter, a good mashed potato is made with potatoes, butter and egg yolks. We like the mash to be a bit 'sticky'. If you prefer a looser consistency, like mashed potatoes, you can add a little milk or cream.
You will need (4 portions)
- Potatoes, preferably floury (1 kg)
- Butter (50 grams)
- Egg yolks (4 pcs)
- Salt
- White pepper
How to do this
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces.
- Boil the potato cubes in salted water until soft, about 20 minutes. Pour off the cooking water.
- Mash the potatoes in the saucepan.
- Add the butter and egg yolks, and whisk together.
- Season with salt and white pepper.
Recipe for cream sauce
A really good cream sauce is the "icing on the cake" when eating homemade meatballs. Peter makes his sauce from soup vegetables, and it turns out fantastically good.
You need (4 people)
- Soup vegetables - usually carrot, parsnip, celeriac and leek (one packet)
- Onions (1 piece)
- Butter (50 grams)
- Cooking cream (7 dl)
- Wheat flour (3 tbsp)
- Veal stock (half bottle)
- Japanese soya (3 tbsp)
- Salt and pepper
How to do this
- Cut the soup vegetables and onion into smaller pieces.
- Sauté the soup vegetables and onion in butter in a frying pan, for about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the flour to the pan and stir for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the cream, veal stock and soya.
- Cook everything together, another 5-7 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
- Strain the vegetables and squeeze the sauce into a saucepan.
- Add 2 dl of cream.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Accessories for homemade meatballs
The meal of homemade meatballs will be even tastier with raw lingonberries and pickled cucumber. We chose to buy these accessories ready-made in a tin. Those who wish can of course do this on their own.
Video about homemade meatballs, cream sauce and mashed potatoes
Homemade meatballs for the Christmas table
Leftover homemade meatballs are perfect for the Christmas table. You can serve them as they are, preferably warmed up, with boiled potatoes and beetroot salad, for example. Another option is to save them for a tasty meatball sandwich. Read more about Christmas food and Swedish food here:
How do you make your best homemade meatballs?
How do you cook your best homemade meatballs? Please share your tips and tricks!
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Mr Nilsson's wife says:
Agree meatballs are great. I made a batch yesterday of 1.6kg. We have a teenager here this weekend so we had stewed macaroni for then we froze the rest as a reserve for Christmas because those meatballs were already made by my hubby. I like mash but not gravy. I am not very fond of gravy and with some things like mashed potatoes I do not want it.
Looks good in your photos.
Have a nice Sunday.
Kramiz
22 December 2024 - 7:19
Helena says:
I (Helena) can be a bit like you when it comes to sauce. Don't want the food to be too "gooey", haha. Like the taste of this sauce, but when it is mashed potatoes, I take significantly less sauce, than if it were boiled potatoes.
22 December 2024 - 10:12
The Adventure of the Future says:
I like that Peter makes everything from scratch. Even the vegetable gravy. It's great!
We buy pickles too, here you rarely get lingonberry jam so we skip it, but I got a tip about a guy further west in town who sells frozen lingonberries so ... hey hop to it.
I like to add a little curry to the meatball batter or I mix in Danablue..to get a little extra sting in the meatballs.
The meatballs on our Christmas table this year contain curry because our friends like it. There will also be turkey/chicken meatballs
It should be good to live.
I'll definitely try the mashed potatoes.
22 December 2024 - 8:52
Helena says:
Peter has started making more and more from scratch, fun! (And good! ;)) Interesting with curry or Danablue in the meatballs!
22 December 2024 - 10:13
Monica Axén says:
It's great to see Peter in the kitchen. It is also my domains since always but I am more influenced by Mediterranean cuisine after all the years in France. For example, I almost always fry in half butter and olive oil. Never use white pepper but always freshly ground black pepper from the mill. No "Falksalt" but always flake sea salt - sure, more expensive but makes all the difference in the world. You can also make cream sauce on steak sauce - is just as good and is one less step. And use extra salted butter! I avoid lingonberry jam like the plague, I don't think it belongs in cooking at all but I know how Swedish flavours are. And I'd try tinned gherkins instead of the striped ones! My mash contains much more butter and cream but all this is really a matter of taste! It's delicious anyway. Merry Christmas and a great 2025 I wish you. Feel free to come by Svalnäs when you have the roads past!
22 December 2024 - 13:30
Helena says:
Great to hear your tricks Monica! 🙂 Extra salted butter is good, agree, and we love gherkins too! Also agree that flaky salt is good, we use it sometimes, but it usually lacks iodine and we like iodised salt. I don't buy the stuff called "lingonberry jam" either, only raw red lingonberries. Not everyone likes sweet things in dishes, but I'm quite fond of it, also in Asian cuisine where it is also common. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! And thank you, Svalnäs? Have you moved?
22 December 2024 - 16:00
JoY says:
Despite the early morning with that picture, I'm craving meatballs and mash with sauce lingonberry.
Thought I'd make meatballs today as I'm feeling pretty good. See that Peter has soya and garlic in his batter, I usually do not have. I like garlic and will maybe take a piece in today's batter. Usually have a splash of pickled cucumber / sandwich cucumber in the batter and make on just ground beef and half milk / cream. Mustard is always included. Sometimes they are cooked in the oven and when it's time to eat, we fry them in the pan. I think they are juicier to do so.
Many season with Christmas flavours, which goes away, nothing to our liking.
Mash that is properly made is really tasty.
I can imagine that sauce will be super good. Jakob is not much for sauces while I am the opposite and always want something "wet" to. I'll make such a sauce at some point, then maybe even Jakob will start liking sauce. Dry food is nothing for me, except, schnitzel.
Have a nice 4th of Advent and fun in the kitchen.
22 December 2024 - 10:32
Helena says:
Interesting with pickles and mustard! Everyone has their tricks! 🙂 Yes, it's true that many people season their meatballs for Christmas, it's not our favourite so we don't usually do it. And yes, when it comes to sauce, you are different. Peter also likes a lot of sauce. I just want a little, a little for the sake of taste 😉 Wish you a nice 4th Advent!
22 December 2024 - 15:55
Enna says:
Always so good!
22 December 2024 - 12:30
Helena says:
Right? 🙂
22 December 2024 - 15:55
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
I have made meatballs and smoked salmon. We eat Christmas food all December because on Christmas Eve it will be three courses. Mashed potatoes here at home must not be any lumps in it.
Food is good and you should treat yourself.
22 December 2024 - 22:19
Monica says:
Yes, we got after 2o years in queue an apartment at Svalnäs a year ago! So another move before it was too late . PUST! But now we are here - fantastic environment near where we lived before all the adventures. Missing fine Norrtälje but everything has its time!
23 December 2024 - 18:36