Ikea Swedish Meatballs

I think Swedish meatballs are delicious. I think Ikea Swedish meatballs are the most delicious! On our drive down to Utah last weekend I begged David to let us stop Ikea. Even though we're moving across the country in a few weeks he agreed. I said to him, "I'm not planning on buying anything, I just love to look around. Besides, I want some Swedish meatballs." He replied with, "What do Swedish meatballs have to do with Ikea?"

!!!!!!!!!!

My eyes about popped out of my head. This guy had never been to Ikea before! Um, hello??? Swedish meatballs have EVERYTHING to do with Ikea! Now we really had to stop and get this guy some meatballs! Our first stop the cafe was closed, so obviously we had to go back again.

David experiencing his first Ikea Swedish meatball! He only got five meatballs (this was right before all-you-can-eat-sushi) so he has this tiny little bowl with five little meatballs on this giant tray. Haha. I wanted to bring a bag of frozen ones home, but since Ikea is 4 hours away from home, I didn't think they would make it. Luckily, I discovered a book called "Swedish Cooking" in the store! (I searched the Ikea website and several others but can't find the book anywhere online...) I was really excited, now I could make Swedish meatballs at home! And that's exactly what I did this week.

Ikea Swedish Meatballs (Recipe from "Swedish Cooking")
Ingredients:
1 onion (I only used half)
1 tbsp butter
1 lb mixed ground meat, such as beef and veal (only had beef, worked just fine!)
1 egg
2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 bunch parsley
2 tbsp butter/lard for cooking

Peel and chop the onion. Melt the butter in a pan and saute the onion. Thoroughly combine the meat with the egg and breadcrumbs, then mix in the onion. Season the meat mixture with salt and pepper and knead into a smooth mass. Add enough milk to keep it supple (I didn't use the entire cup). Finley chop the parsley and stir into the meat mixture. With damp hands, form small balls from the mass (I got almost 30 out of it). Heat butter or lard in a pan and brown the meatballs on all sides (Mine took about 12 minutes until they were done, use a meat thermometer for more accuracy on done-ness). Serve with rice.

NOMS!!!!! (I had more of a meatrectangle going on there on the left! Mmm, nice and steamy) They were absolutely delicious! For this particular batch a used I cream sauce packet I got from Ikea while we were there. But...I'm kind of a sauce hog. We had leftover meatballs but no leftover sauce! So, obviously I had to find a way to get some more sauce, and this recipe from recipezaar did wonderfully. :)

Cream Sauce
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup low sodium beef broth
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon white flour
1 tablespoon butter
salt, to taste
white pepper

Melt butter in pan and add flour, whisk till golden brown and flour is cooked. Add Beef Stock and Cream until desired thickness. Season well with salt and pepper.

Simple and delicious! Enjoy your weekend! The hubs and I are going camping. :)

I'm sharing this recipe at these parties!