After Wendy taught Rebekah how to make Chinese dumplings and kimbap, Rebekah taught Wendy how to make a classic, traditional Swedish meal: Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and cream sauce, and paper-thin cucumbers marinated in vinegar and dill.
Browning the meatballs
The recipe from the Swedish cousins calls for moose. We did not use moose.
Inga's recipe for Swedish meatballs, translated by Rebekah’s mom Carol
1 1/2 lb. ground beef or ground chuck
3/4 lb. ground pork
3/4 ground round
(You can vary how much of each kind of meat. It was difficult to translate the kinds of meat from Swedish. I think that sometimes they may have mixed in some moose!) Ask the butcher to grind these together finely, or mash them together well.
1 c. mashed potatoes (Instant mashed potatoes will work just fine.)
4 eggs
About 1 1/3 c. of saltine cracker crumbs and bread crumbs )1/2 of each
1/4 c. milk
4 TBLSP. chopped onion
4 tsp. salt
About 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Form into small balls and brown in butter, one frying panful at a time. Melt the butter first, then add the meatballs. Turn as needed so the meatballs brown all over. Use medium heat, adjusting so that the meatballs brown well, but don't stick and burn. After the meatballs are browned, put a batch at a time into a pan with a little water. Cover the pan and steam 1 hour over low heat. Add water as needed.
The recipe makes about 105, depending on the size you make them. I prefer fairly small meatballs, as they seem to hold together better. Also you can add some beef bouillon cubes or granules to the steam water for some extra flavor. The meatballs can be served with or without gravy.
Ta da!
The trick with the cucumbers is to slice them as thinly as possible.
Swedish quick pickled cucumbers (recipe by Rebekah’s twin brother Lukas)
2 cucumbers
approx. 1 tablespoon coarse/kosher salt
2 level tablespoons caster sugar (superfine sugar for Americans)
2 tablespoons boiling water
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small shallot, minced
1 small handful dill, chopped finely
Slice your cucumbers thinly (as thin as you can – the thinner the better!) and arrange in a colander, sprinkling with the salt as you go. Put a bowl on top of the sliced, salted cucumbers and weigh it down with the set of weights from your kitchen scales (a heavy book will do the job too if your scales are digital). Salting and pressing the cucumbers like this will drive out some of their moisture, leaving them much crisper, and better able to take up the flavours of the dressing. Leave the weighted colander for an hour (keep it on the draining board so the drips can fall into the sink). Remove the cucumber pieces to a large bowl, chill for an hour and pour off any extra liquid they might have produced.
To make the dressing, dissolve the caster sugar in the boiling water, then add the vinegar, shallot and dill. Mix well, leave to cool (I give mine a quick shock in the freezer) and pour over the chilled cucumber. Serve immediately.
