Happy New Year! How was your Christmas season? I was just telling my daughter Charlotte yesterday, I feel like January is moving soo sloowww, and I am totally here for it. November and December are always a blur! Right?? We are still in recovery mode over here. After 14 years of traveling every single December, we finally hosted for the first time. 19 days worth of house guests coming and going, 18 people in the house at the very height. Dozens of gifts for 4 families shoved under the tree, more toilet paper than you can imagine, children cartwheeling and hoverboarding in every hallway, and literally hundreds of cookies exploding out of my kitchen. That chaotic opening scene from Home Alone is the closest thing I can compare it too. It was SO MUCH FUN, but mama needs a nap this whole January đ Just kidding. Iâve been bustling away (in between doing yet another load of towels) perfecting my recipes for Swedish Meatballs, Rye Bread, and even the Liver Pate. These are all part of the traditional meal Ericâs family makes every Christmas Eve, and Iâm so excited to finally share them with you! My mother-in-law Kris was here for the holidays and helped me record all the important details. My mother-in-law, Kris, is in the red skirt and glasses. Prudy was her Swedish grandmother. Appetizers:
Relish Tray (Black and green olives, green onions, pickles, sweet peppers, radishes,) Rye Bread, that is served sliced with butter (but Eric and I usually sneak over to the toaster) Liver Pate Pickled Herring with saltine crackers Flatbread, a Swedish cracker with anise (if we took the time to make it; itâs quite labor intensive!)
Main course:
Swedish Meatballs Boiled potatoes (I prefer to serve Mashed Potatoes but I get glares from my mother-in-law when I do; her right as the matriarch and leader of this show for decades) Lingonberry or Cranberry sauce Reesyâs Sauteed Carrots and Shallots Tomato Aspic (How 1950s is this! Someday I will share the recipe! Itâs actually very tasty as a garnish to the meatballs.)
Dessert:
Rice Pudding Cookie Tray (featuring Butter Pecans, Gingersnaps, Spritz, Cardamoms, and Sweethearts (Mexican Wedding Cookies) and so many more.)
Just look at that serving of pickled herring. My first Christmas Eve at Ericâs parentâs house, I think I only ate carrots, meatballs, and cookies. Iâm from California and always had Tri Tip on Christmas. I was in a bit of shock (and only 20, a picky baby!) But over the years Iâve made a pretty strong turnaround; I love it all now. (Except the pickled herring. Not into that. Give me another 15 years.) This year was the first time Eric and I were in charge of menu planning and shopping for the big meal, and I forgot to get the pickled herring. We realized this the night before Christmas eve at about 10:30pm. Eric drove to 3 different grocery stores and could only come up with herring. The package said âKipper style!â âDelightful seafood snack!â I asked him if he was sure it wasnât meant to be cat food. People eat this stuff?? But even then, regular herring would not do. Eric was committed. He looked up a homemade recipe for pickling spice and brined it overnight. His dedication to this tradition is the only reason I was able to choke down the tiny morsel you see on my plate up there. Even if itâs not my favorite, I love how his family keeps this meal tradition alive every single year. Now letâs dive into the BEST part, the one menu item that NO one argues or complains about: the beloved meatballs.
Swedish Meatballs Recipe Variations
There are many paths to the perfect pan of Swedish meatballs. Here are some roads you can travel to family dinner perfection! I would love to tell you that you can make life easier by swapping in your favorite store bought meatballs in this recipe! But unless they are labeled Swedish meatballs, they arenât going to have nutmeg and allspice in them, and the flavors will be way different. For the meatballs For the sauce Have you ever used fresh nutmeg? There is something kind of magical about it. Plus I always hear Hades in my head talking to Herculesâ girlfriend: âMeg, my little flower, my little bird, my little nutâŠMEG.â Ha. But seriously though, nutmeg is a major flavor component in these meatballs, so if you canâ get your hands on some fresh nutmeg pods, do it. You will need a fine grater, like a microplane. If not, powdered nutmeg works fine! Donât forget the allspice too. Traditionally, the Swedish meatball mixture is pureed to be very fine. I tried it in my rather large, nice food processor and it didnât go well (it wouldnât mix all the way? Too thick I think), plus itâs a pain to clean. So I just stick with the glove method, it works for me. I like to use a cookie scoop. I press the meat mixture in with my fingers (to help it keep its shape), then release from the scoop, and roll it a bit more in my hands. You can make the meatballs whatever size you like, just make sure they are uniform. We make ours about the size of a ping pong ball or smaller. I like to add chopped mushrooms to my Swedish meatballs, but this is not necessary. Iâm used to it because we used canned cream of mushroom soup for so long! You donât need to add them, and even if you do, donât add a lot. Just about a half cup chopped is fine. We want the flavor of the meatballs to shine. The classic sides to go along with the meatballs is of course lingonberry preserves, and boiled or mashed potatoes. At some point after coming over to the states, Prudy (or possibly Nana, her daughter-in-law, Krisâ mother) started making life a little easier by swapping a homemade sauce for canned cream of mushroom soup. Itâs the way Ericâs family has made it for decades! But being me, and not necessarily being antiâ canned soup, but knowing we could do betterâŠI wanted to try for a homemade sauce. Turns out itâs ridiculously easy and in my opinion, SO much better. The original (unoriginal?) recipe with the canned soup is in the recipe notes! But I totally understand if you are not interested in making 1950s tomato jello đ If youâre looking for a more casual side for a weeknight, here are great options you can pair Swedish meatballs with:
Instead of potatoes, try noodles. Egg noodles are most common, but any kind will do Roasted Red Potatoes in Oven » tender in the middle, oh so crispy on the outside 3 Ingredient Roasted Potatoes with Crunchy Onions » perfect to cook in the oven while you make the meatballs stovetop! Aunt Joyâs Creamy Cucumber Salad » If you donât want to go full pickled but want something green, try these super creamy and refreshing cucumber salad Easy Roasted Broccoli Recipe » so super easy, and always a crowd favorite for a veggie side Oven Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter » done in about 15 minutes, and probably the most heavenly way to eat asparagus Pressgurka (Swedish Pickled Cucumbers) from Kristyâs Kitchn â outside of our traditional menu, this is one side that over and over again is mentioned as traditional with Swedish meatballs!! Check out this post from True North Kitchen with side dish recommendations from an American blogger recording classic Nordic dishes!
To reheat your frozen meatballs, thaw the bag in the refrigerator overnight or for a few hours on the counter. Add to a sauce pan and heat on medium low til heated through, or add to a crockpot and heat on low for 1-2 hours. You will need to stick around and whisk the sauce a bit to get it to the right consistency as it heats. Donât turn the heat up high, you want to reheat slowly to keep the meat tender, so be patient!
Crispy Swedish Cardamom Cookies » these are one of my favorite all time Christmas cookies! Swedish Sour Cream Twists (Layered Yeast Cookies) » another understated sweet pastry, perfect to go with hot chocolate Grandma Prudyâs Rye Bread Recipe » Iâm telling you, youâve never had such pillowy soft bread! Grandma Prudyâs Classic Gingersnaps » if you like ginger cookies that have all the flavor and truly snap, these are the cookies for you Grandma Prudyâs Classic Spritz Cookie Recipe » Iâm pretty sure Christmas canât even happen without these classics Thin and Crispy Sugar Cookies (Grandma Prudyâs Recipe) » buttery sugar cookies that are thin, and shatter in your mouth when you take a bite Butter Pecan Cookie Recipe » brown sugar buttery shortbread goodies that are wayyyy to easy to pop in one bite
You can use any combo of meat that you like. Half beef and half pork is sometimes more convenient for me, just depending on what I have. You want that beefy flavor, the pork is added in the recipe mainly to add fat. If you have super fatty ground beef (like 80%) then you can use less pork, but I still would use some if you want really tender meatballs. **Or skip the water and beef base, and use 3 cups of really high quality beef stock. ***You can use Worcestershire sauce in place of the soy. I tried it both ways and we liked the soy slightly better, but they are both really good. Baking meatballs instead of frying: Frying the meatballs in a skillet gives you a whole other flavor component from the super crispy blackened edges, but it is definitely a pain. You can skip this step. Place the shaped meatballs on a baking sheet, right next to each other but not touching. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are nice and brown. Make the sauce as instructed (there is enough butter in the recipe that you will be okay without meatball drippings) and add the meatballs to the sauce. You donât need to keep cooking the meatballs in the sauce, since they are cooked all the way through already. You can just serve right away once the gravy has thickened to a consistency you like. Instead of potatoes, try noodles. Egg noodles are most common, but any kind will do.
Sometimes I write about stuff on this blog that I think other people will relate to, but then I realize that no, Iâm the only one in the world who is this disgusting. These meatballs, on the other hand, are divine. Ericâs family is Swedish, and this is the special meal they eat every year on Christmas Eve. It is a nonnegotiable family tradition hailing from his beloved Grandma Prudy. They are awesome and delicious and guess what, they are super easy. Check out the section at the end of the recipe with instructions on how to make them in the slow cooker. Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
