Danish Meatballs

Classic Danish Meatballs with creamed green cabbage.

Danish meatballs or frikadeller as they are called, are a popular dish in Denmark. It might even be the national dish at one point. According my mom the traditional meatballs are made with half pork and half veal, but you can make them with most ground meats. I always use rolled oats in meatballs, even though my mom used all-purpose flour. I think the meatballs become more compact using flour. This recipe is the basic recipe for Danish meatballs, and the taste fantastic. But you can spice them up by adding different spices like garlic, rosemary, thyme or any other spice you like. 

There are many different ways of serving these simple meatballs. You can serve meatballs with:

• boiled potatoes, brown pan-gravy and pickled red cabbage.

• creamed green cabbage or pointed cabbage

• a cold potato salad

• or served on rye bread as a open-faced sandwich

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground pork

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground veal

• about 50 g (about ½ cup) rolled quick oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped or grated

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• olive oil for frying

Directions:

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats (about 50 g or ½ cup). Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture.  Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in the skillet.

How to make the meatballs taken from my lamb meatball post.

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the oil and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may varies.  When done remove the meatballs and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

Serve the warm meatballs. 

Enjoy!

Thai Meatballs with Shrimp

We really like thai-inspired food in our house. Mostly we have rice with the meal, but I needed a lighter meal, so I opted for a pearl barley/cabbage salad. 

The meatballs were really really tasty. They were very flavorful, a little on the spicy side, but you can control that with the amount of chili you add. If you need a new twist to your normal meatballs give these a try. 

Ingredients:

Thai Meatballs:

• 450 g (1 lbs) ground pork

• 150 g (⅓ lbs) raw shrimp (peeled and deveined), grounded

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

• 1 teaspoon grated ginger

• 1 jalapeño, minced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 small handful cilantro leaves, chopped

• ½ lime, the juice from

• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

• ½ teaspoon red curry paste

• ½ teaspoon fish sauce

• salt and pepper to taste

• vegetable oil for frying

Salad:

• pearl barley, cooked according to instructions on package

• green cabbage, thinly sliced

• cilantro

• carrots, julienned

• chili pepper, julienned

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Heat a skillet with some vegetable oil and panfry a small test meatball. Taste the cooked test meatball and season the meatball mixture if it according to your taste.

Form the meatball with a spoon, and panfry them, until cooked through. Mix up the salad, and serve the meatballs on the salad with some satay sauce on the side.

Enjoy!

Spicy Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Spicy Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

These spicy lamb meatballs in a tomato-curry are so tasty and flavorful, and I really love it. You would think, that the dish is burning hot when you start adding all the chilies, but somehow the chilies mellow out and just adds a nice heat. Of course I removed all the seeds, but serranos usually pack some heat.

I really like to drizzle the juice from the lemon over the dish when plated. The tanginess brightens the flavor profile of the dish.

For at low calorie version, serve the meatballs over cauliflower rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 450 g ground lamb

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger

• 1 garlic clove

• 2 Serrano chilies

• 1 teaspoon garam masala

• 35 g (1 dl) plain breadcrumbs

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• 1 egg

Purée:

• 4 tomatoes

• 4 Serrano chilies

• 1 inch (2½ cm) fresh ginger

Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons grape seed oil

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• ¾ teaspoon turmeric

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• ⅛ cup almond slivers

• salt to taste

Topping:

• Serrano chili

• lemon

Direction:

Meatballs:

Peel and grate ginger and garlic. Cut the chilies in half, length-wise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Dice the chilies. Mix meat, garlic, ginger, chili, egg, garam masala and breadcrumbs in a bowl, season with salt. Form about 12 round meatballs with your hands.

Purée:

Cut the chilies in half, length-wise and remove the seeds with a spoon, peel the ginger, and roughly chop it up. Cut the tomatoes in half. Add all the ingredients in a blender, and purée until smooth.

Sauce:

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and fry cumin, turmeric, paprika and almonds for about 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Add the purée and bring it to a simmer while stirring. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes. Place the meatballs in the sauce and simmer them in the sauce for another 15 minutes. Add more water if necessary. 

Finish of the dish with slices of chili and lemon wedges. Serve the meatballs over rice.

Enjoy!

Greek-style Lamb Meatballs - Græske Lammefrikadelle

Greek-style Lamb Meatballs

Everybody knows Swedish meatballs from IKEA. They have a danish cousin, they are not round but more flat and fried on a skillet in butter.

Growing up with moms meatballs, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, not my cup of tea. The taste was good, but texture-vise I needed something else. My moms meatballs was made with all-purpose flours as the starch component. But one of my friends said to try using rolled oats instead, and it made a big difference.

My old aunt from Jutland also taught me some of her secrets to good meatballs. You start by mixing the meat with salt, this makes some of the meat proteins water soluble, which acts like a emulsifier. She always tasted the meat to see if it needed more salt, I wouldn't recommend this. Try to fry up a small meatball to taste it. 

Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats. Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk salt and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture. I use the same directions for these lamb meatballs

I like to experiment with the classic recipes, and wanted to try out a greek take on the danish meatballs. What makes these greek?  Making them with lamb and adding garlic, feta, olives, roasted tomatoes and rosemary gave them a greek twist. 

My husband loves these especially when I serve them with tzatziki and orzo salad.

Makes 30 meatballs

Ingredients: 

The Ingredients.

• 1 kg (2 lb.) ground lamb meat

• rolled oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions

• ⅓ cup milk

• ¼ cup roasted garlic

• 2 garlic cloves (fresh)

• ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives

• 75 g feta cheese

• ¼ cup roasted tomatoes

• 2 sprigs rosemary

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• Butter and oil for frying

Directions:

The Process.

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats. Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk,  salt and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture. Add the chopped rosted garlic, fresh garlic, olives, feta cheese roasted tomatoes and rosemary. 

Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Melt a couple of table spoons of butter in the skillet

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the melted butter and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may vary.  When done remove the meatballs onto a plate, and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

The Danish Version

Græske lammefrikadeller

Ingredienser: 

• 1 kg hakket lammekød

• havregryn

• 2 æg

• 2 løg

• 3/4 dl mælk

• en lille håndfuld ristede hvidløgsfed

• 2 hvidløsfed (friske)

• en lille håndfuld kalamata oliven

• 75 g feta

• en lille håndfuld semi dried tomater

• 2 kviste rosemarin

• 1,5 tsk salt

• pepper

• smør og olie til stegningen

Bland kødet med salt. Del kødet i kvarte, løft en fjerdedel op op de andre. Fyld den manglende fjerdedel med havregryn. Tilsæt  finthakket eller revet løg, æg, mælk, salt og peber og bland indtil du har en sammenhængende fars. Tilsæt den hakkede ristede hvidløg, frisk hvidløg, oliven, feta, ristede tomater og rosmarin, bland det godt.

Smelt et par spiseskefulde smør på en stegepande, tilsæt lidt oile.

Brug hånden og skeen til at forme frikadellerne . Frikadellerne skal være ovale, på størrelse med en lille æg . Steg frikadellerne i omkring 3 til 5 minutter på hver side, indtil de er godt brunet og ikke længere rå inden i. Stegetiden varierer afhængig af størrelsen på frikadellerne, og hvor varmt din stegepande er.