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Swedish Meatballs Recipe

Should we listen to our gut to pick our meal or think over our choices carefully? Let’s try some Swedish meatballs while pondering!

We, humans like to think for ourselves or at least many of us, as a rational thinking being that raised to the top of all other creatures on this planet by cunning cleverness. Well, that may be true but being rational is far from our true nature, otherwise there wouldn’t be an obesity, pandemic or any man-made crisis at all.

Are our choices reliable?

Our insistence on listening to our gut feelings were a useful surviving factor and still can be today when we are cornered. In stress situations, it still saves our skin when split second decisions are needed, like on a Math exam when we rush to solve the last couple of problems in the last minutes. Studies show that under stress, choosing or doing what first comes to our mind produces better results than if we are given more time to ponder about the problem.

It doesn’t mean that we’ll be better at Math when we ride high on Adrenalin, but we can do our best in shorter time. We still have to study to prepare ourselves for the challenges which allows our brain to pick the best possible solution.

With incomplete information we make uninformed decisions which may bring the results we want at present but can cause grater long term damage. If we don’t know about a surprise exam tomorrow, we happily listen to our gut feeling and do something that doesn’t require that much effort as meticulous  information gathering.

Are meatballs addictive?

The same way, we happily buy anything that says healthy on the box without even bothering to read the small letters on the back, let alone checking what those ingredients really are.

Once we start to like something, our thinking brain quite quickly creates the reason why we should keep doing it so. A snack, during an afternoon break, can end up being indispensable part of our work schedule from day one.

We can hack into this mechanism by start doing something and once a habit is created, we will like it much like many arranged marriages, running careers or new recipes end up successfully.

Why Swedish meatballs?

So, what’s the big deal about Swedish meatballs? Why do we have to like them over any other meatballs on Earth? Sure, they have a bit different ingredients from the rest of the world’s meatballs, but that alone would never convince anyone to swap from their own best meatball recipe, especially if that’s an Italian one.

We may not be talking about Swedish meatballs at all if not for IKEA. A furniture shop that not only influenced the culinary world but taken it by storm. How many of us have been lured to IKEA, not by their ability to make our life easier with their furniture, but the smells seeping out of their restaurants.

A restaurant that is entirely equipped with the furniture IKEA sells, making the space completely part of the furniture shopping experience. Cozy armchairs, chick high-chairs and cool lighting just like we were at home or rather in our would-be home.

When to get meatballs?

The hardest part of the IKEA experience is to decide if we should get ourselves ready in the restaurant for an epic 4 hours warehouse stroll or land there smoothing our exit to the real world.

Luckily, IKEA has already thought about how torn the experience could be, and offers the possibility to pop into their bistro to pack up on frozen meatballs and fresh hot dogs once we passed the cash registers.

On the way home with our joyous family, we may ponder if we went to a restaurant and bought some (quite a lot of) furniture or went to a furniture shop and had something (quite a lot) to eat. The answer will be found though once we make our own Swedish meatballs and find nothing to build afterwards but Legos.Meatballs - SunCakeMom

Ingredients

Original IKEA Style

  • 1lb / 500g Ground beef
  • 0.5 lb / 250g Ground pork
  • 1 Onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
  • ½ cup / 100g Bread crumbs
  • 1 Egg
  • 5 tablespoons Whole milk
  • 2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 teaspoon Pepper
    Cream sauce ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons / 40g Butter
  • 3 tablespoons / 40g Flour
  • ⅔ cup / 150ml Vegetable stock
  • ⅔ cup / 150ml Beef stock
  • ⅔ cup / 150ml Thick double cream
  • 2 teaspoons /  10ml Soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Freestyle – Keto

  • 1.5lb / 750g Ground beef
  • 0.8 lb / 370g Ground pork
  • 1 Onion (finely chopped)
  • 2 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
  • 1 Egg
  • 5 tablespoons Whole milk
  • 2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 teaspoon Pepper
    Cream sauce ingredients
  • 1 stick / 100g Butter
  • 7 oz / 200g Sour cream or creme fraiche
  • 2 teaspoons /  10ml Soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

How to make Swedish meatballs

Meatballs

  1. Place all the meatball ingredients into a big bowl.Ground beef pork SunCakeMom
  2. Work everything together by hand.Ground beef pork SunCakeMom
  3. Make walnut sized meatballs. If the meatballs doesn’t seem firm enough place them into the fridge for an hour or two and quickly rework them before frying.Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  4. Brown the meatballs on medium to high heat on all sides.Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  5. If short on time just finish them off in the frying pan.Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  6. Add browned meatballs to an ovenproof dish, cover and bake them in a 350°F / 180°C oven for about 30 minutes.Meatballs - SunCakeMom

Cream sauce

  1. On medium heat melt butter in a pan.Melt-butter-pan-gp-SunCakeMom
  2. Whisk in the rest of the ingredients one after the other. Only start adding the next ingredient once we have a completely worked the previous one into the sauce.
  3. When all the ingredients are in, lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens. Mind that it will thicken further up as it cools. The keto variety will be like butter in the fridge.Meatballs - SunCakeMom

Enjoy!Meatballs - SunCakeMom

 

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Swedish Meatballs Recipe

Should we listen to our gut to pick our meal or think over our choices carefully? Let's try some Swedish meatballs while pondering!
Course Low Carb Meal, Main Course, Meal
Cuisine Dairy free, Gluten free, Keto, Low carb recipe, Sugar free recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

Original IKEA Style
  • 1 lb / 500g Ground beef
  • 0.5 lb / 250g Ground pork
  • 1 Onion finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
  • ½ cup / 100g Bread crumbs
  • 1 Egg
  • 5 tablespoons Whole milk
  • 2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 teaspoon Pepper
Cream sauce ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons / 40g Butter
  • 3 tablespoons / 40g Flour
  • cup / 150ml Vegetable stock
  • cup / 150ml Beef stock
  • cup / 150ml Thick double cream
  • 2 teaspoons / 10ml Soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Freestyle - Keto
  • 1.5 lb / 750g Ground beef
  • 0.8 lb / 370g Ground pork
  • 1 Onion finely chopped
  • 2 clove of garlic finely chopped
  • 1 Egg
  • 5 tablespoons Whole milk
  • 2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 teaspoon Pepper
Cream sauce ingredients
  • 1 stick / 100g Butter
  • 7 oz / 200g Sour cream or creme fraiche
  • 2 teaspoons / 10ml Soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Instructions

Meatballs

  • Place all the meatball ingredients into a big bowl.
    Ground beef pork SunCakeMom
  • Work everything together by hand.
    Ground beef pork SunCakeMom
  • Make walnut sized meatballs. If the meatballs doesn't seem firm enough place them into the fridge for an hour or two and quickly rework them before frying.
    Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  • Brown the meatballs on medium to high heat on all sides.
    Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  • If short on time just finish them off in the frying pan.
    Meatballs - SunCakeMom
  • Add browned meatballs to an ovenproof dish, cover and bake them in a 350°F / 180°C oven for about 30 minutes.
    Meatballs - SunCakeMom

Cream sauce

  • On medium heat melt butter in a pan.
    Melt-butter-pan-gp-SunCakeMom
  • Whisk in the rest of the ingredients one after the other. Only start adding the next ingredient once we have a completely worked the previous one into the sauce.
  • When all the ingredients are in, lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens. Mind that it will thicken further up as it cools. The keto variety will be like butter in the fridge.
    Meatballs - SunCakeMom

Notes

Enjoy!

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Swedish-meatballs-Pinterest-SunCakeMom

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