We’ve tried Persian and German; near, middle, and far eastern, American and Italian, Roman and Milanese…but of all of them this jumbled-up version hits the spot with all our tasters every time.
Essential conditions for the perfect meatball – why these meatballs are SUCH a favourite
If you read our guide, How To Make Sublime Meatballs, you will see that, although there are hundreds of different types of meatball, there are certain keys to making good ones. Juiciness is one key, which achieved by incorporating a moist cheese; by the cooking method (frying, then baking); and by serving with lots of aromatic sauce. Another key condition is the presence of something sweet – serving them with fruit jelly, jam or chutney of some kind, or incorporating dried fruit into the dish. Other essentials are the inclusion of some form of allium (for taste) and an egg (to hold the meatball together).
Small wonder, then, that these meatballs are such a favourite: they tick all the boxes.
A touch of sweetness
Although cranberries do exist in Europe (see A History of Cranberries), the lovely big juicy ones all come from north America, and those are also the best ones available in dry form. I use them for everything… cereals, cakes, salads…. dried cranberries and dried sour cherries are now what I use instead of raisins. It’s the cranberries which make this ‘American’. An interesting experiment might be thrust a small piece of apple into the heart of each meatball instead…
The sauce
Anyone who has every had to restore energy following a traipse around IKEA will testify that the Swedish food served there is extremely good. Meatballs in Scandinavia are often served with a creamy mustard sauce and with the subtle touch of sweetness it teams up better with the meatball buddies than the ubiquitous tomato version.
Tips – it all freezes conveniently and you can sweep up various forms of dairy into the sauce
- The meatballs (pre-cooking) and the sauce both freeze well so it’s worth making this amount even if you aren’t cooking for eight.
- If, like me, you are not a fan of cooking in batches, don’t try to cook for more than four people at a time, because you won’t fit more than 24 meatballs in the frying pan.
- For the milk/cream/mascarpone mix in the béchamel you can substitute whatever full-fat dairy you have which needs using up – crème fraîche, sour cream, cream cheese etc. Just make sure it doesn’t become too solid.
What to serve with it
For carbs I like to serve these with rösti, or with wild rice, but if you go to our Sublime Meatballs guide (see link in top paragraph above) you will find loads of other options. You’ll find ideas for healthy sides there too, but with these meatballs I like buttered cabbage with caraway, or a well-dressed salad.
Scandinavian-american meatballs with cranberries and mustard sauce
Serves – 8
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 130g/½ cup ricotta
- 1 onion, ideally red, peeled and finely chopped; or any other alliums – spring onions, shallots, even leeks.
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with 1 tsp salt
- 30g/1 oz/a handful of parsley
- 2 tbsps freeze-dried dill (or you could, of course, use fresh)
- 60g/2 oz/½ cup grated parmesan or pecorino (I prefer to use pecorino, something not too dry and hard)
- 60g/2 oz/1 cup stale breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsps milk
- 460g/1 lb minced meat (I use a mix of beef and pork)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp Za’atar
- 30g/1 oz/¼ cup dried cranberries (or dried sour cherries)
- Pepper, or Urfa pepper flakes (a couple of pinches)
- Olive oil for frying
- Vermouth (or wine) to deglaze
For the sauce:
- 3 tbsps/24g flour
- 3 tbsps/2 oz/50g butter
- 180ml/¾ cup chicken stock (use two chicken stock cubes)
- 240 ml/1 cup milk
- 240 ml/1 cup double cream
- 180ml/¾ cup mascarpone
- 120 ml/½ cup dry vermouth
- 3 tbsps wholegrain mustard
- Pepper
- Nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
Method for the meatballs:
- In a big mixing bowl stir together the ricotta, the dill, the garlic and the grated cheese.
- Snip in the parsley.
- Add the milk, the breadcrumbs, and the egg. Stir thoroughly to mix.
- Add the za’atar and the dried cranberries. Add the Urfa pepper flakes, or grind over some pepper.
- Then take slightly less than a desert spoon of the mixture between the palms of your two hands and roll to form balls, bigger than a walnut, and smaller than a ping pong ball.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Get some oil good and hot in a large frying pan (which you can ideally also put in the oven), and begin to fry the meatballs, turning just once with care. You won’t be able to get them caramelised on all ‘sides’ (they don’t have ‘sides’ obviously because they’re balls), and if you turn too often they will start to fall apart, but this doesn’t matter as now you put them in the oven to cook through for about 10 minutes, and in the meantime the frying has given a crunchy coating. If your frying pan doesn’t go in the oven, transfer to a pre-heated baking tray lined with silicon paper (or oiled foil).
- Now you make the sauce (see separate instructions below).
- When the meatballs are cooked through, leave to rest in the hot pan without heat for anything up to five minutes. This enhances the flavour; it binds in the moisture; and it also helps them to hold together better.
- Plate up, deglaze the pan with some vermouth (or wine) and drizzle over the balls…serve with the sauce.
Method for the sauce:
- In a medium-sized saucepan, mix the butter and flour to make a roux, and cook gently for two or three minutes (you are effectively making a béchamel sauce, for more on that follow this link). Slowly stir in the stock (I use a cappuccino whisk for this, it helps prevent lumps)…then the milk… then the cream, then the mascarpone. Then the vermouth or wine. Then the mustard.