Swedish meatballs are right at home in Canada

On a recent trip to Sweden, of course I had to try meatballs. Here on the prairies, Swedish meatballs seem to represent the culinary tradition of an entire nation that sent so many sons and daughters to western Canada in pioneer times. And it's good to know that Swedish meatballs are still popular in their homeland.

At a restaurant in old Stockholm called Pelikan (est. 1733) the menu is unabashedly traditional. Along with pork knuckle, Baltic fish and mashed swedes, the menu offers the timeless Swedish meatball "as big as golf balls" served with cream gravy, lingonberries and a sliced pickle, a bowl of mashed potatoes on the side.

According to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, about 40,000 Swedish immigrants came to the prairies between 1893 and 1914, most of them settling first in the United States (primarily Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and the Dakotas) before moving north to homestead in Canada.

Among them were Anna and Olaf Nilson who came from Sweden in 1905. After landing at the port of Montreal, they took the train to Melfort, Sask., crossing the country with their two daughters in a cattle car. Their first home had been abandoned by its previous owner. The roof leaked. The floor was earthen. Their first cow died in calving.

The nearest store was more than eight kilometres' walk, where they could exchange extra butter and eggs for a few staples such as flour and baking soda. Most of their food they grew, gathered and raised themselves. The Nilson (later changed to Nelson) family history notes, "Mother stated many times that, if money had been available, they would have returned to Sweden."

Well, it wasn't and they didn't. Despite the hardships – and obvious lack of Baltic fish – they did their best to make the traditional dishes that reminded them of home.

Recipes such thin crisp bread, St. Lucia buns (served at the festival of St. Lucia on December 13), pepparkakar (ginger cookies) and meatballs with cream gravy or lingonberry sauce. This recipe for Swedish meatballs was given to me by Joan Thompson (née Nelson) of Saskatoon, granddaughter of Anna and Olaf.

She got the recipe from her mother Myrtle (née Standberg) whose Swedish ancestors followed a different route to Canada. They first settled in Minnesota and, in 1903, their son Axel moved north to homestead in Canada, where he married his Swedish sweetheart Jenny. Life was hard for them, too. Myrtle, one of 10 children, got her first job at 14 cooking and cleaning for a couple of bachelor farmers. But they prospered.

By 2011, more than 152,000 people living in the prairie provinces claimed Swedish heritage, and no doubt, many of them are still fond of Swedish meatballs.

A word about lingonberry sauce: lingonberry is the Swedish word for low-bush cranberry, which grows abundantly in our parklands and Boreal forest. You can substitute currant jelly.

Swedish Meatballs
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 small potato, peeled and grated
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tst salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cream
1 egg
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter or oil

Mix everything but the final ingredient. Work the mixture with your hands or an electric mixer until the meat is smooth and fluffy.

With damp hands, form into balls. Heat butter or oil in a skillet. Fry the meatballs, turning to brown all sides. Open one meatballs to ensure they are cooked through to the centre. Tip: Shaking the skillet as the meatballs cook helps to keep them round.

If you need to cook the meatballs in two batches, add additional butter/oil if needed. Serve warm tossed with cream gravy or lingonberry sauce or both!

Cream Gravy
2 tbsp drippings from meatballs or butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups warm chicken or beef stock
2 tbsp sour cream

Heat drippings or butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour to a smooth paste. Add warm stock, whisking thoroughly to prevent lumps. Simmer and thicken. Remove from heat. Whisk in sour cream.

Lingonberry Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen low-bush cranberries
1 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan to a bubbling simmer, stirring occasionally. When the sugar is dissolved, add the berries and orange juice.

Bring back to a simmer. As the berries heat, they will pop and release their juices. You can help by pressing them with a fork. Boil lightly until it is jammy, but not too jammy, as it will thicken further as it cools.

Prairie Kitchens - Swedish Meatballs

In 1905, Olaf and Anna Nilson left Sweden for a new life in western Canada. From Montreal, they rode the train across the country to Melfort, Sask. Don't imagine an upholstered sleeping car – they travelled in a cattle car with no seats!

They took a homestead near Kinistino. At first, they lived in an abandoned sod house. The roof leaked and the floor was bare earth. Their first cow died. The nearest store was more than five miles' walk, where they exchanged their extra butter and eggs for groceries.

Other than a few staples such as flour and baking soda, they produced all their own food. They stored vegetables in a root cellar (so they wouldn't freeze in winter) and canned meat in sealer jars (so it would keep in summer). Meat consisted of their own chickens, pigs and cattle. The Nilson family history notes, "Mother stated many times that, if money had been available, they would have returned to Sweden." Well, they stayed.

Many of their favourite Swedish foods, such as shrimp and herring, were rare on the Canadians plains, but one dish that did travel well was Swedish meatballs. This recipe was given to me by Olaf and Anna's granddaughter, Joan Thompson of Saskatoon, who got the recipe from her mother, Myrtle. In the 2006 Canadian census, 33,000 people in Saskatchewan claimed Swedish ancestry. No doubt, many of them are still fond of Swedish meatballs.

Swedish Meatballs
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 small potato, peeled and grated
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tst salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cream
1 egg
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter or oil

Mix everything but the last ingredient. Stir vigorously until the meat is smooth and fluffy (I used an electric mixer). With damp hands, form into small balls. Heat butter or oil in a skillet. Fry the meatballs, turning to brown all sides. Shaking the skillet helps to keep the meatballs round.

Depending on the size of the skillet, it may be cooked in two batches. Add additional butter/oil if needed. Serve with lingonberry sauce (aka low bush cranberry jelly), boiled potatoes and cooked vegetables.

Lingonberry Sauce
In Saskatchewan, lingonberries are known as low bush cranberries. They grow wild in the parkland and north of the province.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen low-bush cranberries
1 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan to a bubbling simmer, stirring occasionally. When the sugar is dissolved, add the berries and orange juice. Simmer. As the berries heat, they will pop and release their juices. You can help by pressing them with a fork. Boil lightly until it is jammy, but not too jammy, as it will thicken further as it cools.

Do you have a prairie recipe with a story? Send me a comment. Follow at twitter.com/prairiefeast.

This column first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

Two Thanksgivings

The great thing about being married to a fellow from Wisconsin is that we celebrate two Thanksgivings. So, while Canadian Thanksgiving is at my mom and dad's (and not particularly Saskatchewan based) I cook American Thanksgiving dinner Saskatchewan-style. This year's menu:

Roast chicken with bacon-sage stuffing

(Chicken from Susan's CSA acreage, bacon from the farmers'

market, sage from my garden & bread from Christie's bakery)

Cranberry sauce - recipe below

(low-bush cranberries from the farmers' market)

Roast potatoes and gravy

(fingerling potatoes grown by my dad & homemade gravy)

Scalloped corn

(corn from a Hutterite colony, red pepper & egg from the farmers' market)

Wild rice and dried cherry salad

(wild rice from up north, sour cherries I picked and dried myself)

Cherry pie & apple pie

(cherries from Prairie Sun Orchard u-pick,

apples from my family farm)

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Cranberry Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 cups frozen low-bush cranberries (a.k.a. lingonberries)

2 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice

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Heat sugar and water in a saucepan to a bubbling simmer, stirring occasionally. When the sugar is dissolved, add the berries and orange juice. Simmer, stirring now and then, crushing the berries with a potato masher to release their juice. Cook until the mixture is thick and jammy. Pour into a bowl and cool. Cover and refrigerate.

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It's hard to describe exactly when the sauce has cooked enough to form a jell. If, when the sauce is cool, it's too runny, scoop it back in the pot and boil a bit longer.

CBC Radio calling - Berry Recipes

Here are some of my favourite ways to serve Saskatchewan berries, including this delighful dessert which I call Strawberries Between the Sheets.

Prairie Berry Clafoutis
Lingonberry Pinwheels
Wild Rice with Dried Cherries
Bumbleberry Pie
Saskatoon Berry Cobbler

Newspaper Column - LINGONBERRY PINWHEELS

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 20 February 2007.

I have been reading about the health benefits of Saskatchewan berries. And there are many. Berries are full of antioxidants which are credited with preventing cancer, reducing heart disease and even slowing the affects of aging. According to many studies, berries are better for you than most other fruits. Even strawberries have more vitamin C than oranges. So, if berries are such a wonder food, it’s a wonder that we don’t eat more of them.

My husband and I got hooked on berries during our all-Saskatchewan diet, during which we tried to eat only foods that were grown or produced in Saskatchewan. Berries were an important part of that. With few other fruits grown in Saskatchewan, we stocked up on raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, saskatoons and sour cherries. We picked most of the berries ourselves, either in the wild, in backyards (with permission, of course) or at U-Pick farms.

One day last August, I took a drive up to La Ronge to hunt for wild mushrooms but instead found an abundance of blueberries on the forest floor. I sat and picked for hours. I also made a trip to St. Walburg for the annual Wild Blueberry Festival. It was amazing to see so many people having so much fun in one little town. The lineup at the blueberry tables began well before 9:00 a.m., when the town clock signaled the start of sales. In some years, the blueberries are sold out quickly, but this was a good year for blueberries and there were plenty to go around.

One summer a few years ago, while canoeing north of La Ronge with friends Tom and Magda, we camped on an island that was blanketed in low bush cranberries. So, while the guys pitched the tents, the gals picked as many cranberries as we could by the fading light. Back in Saskatoon, we turned the berries over to Tom’s wife Eva, who made a delicious preserve she calls by the Polish word, borowki. In Europe, they are also known as lingonberries, the national fruit of Sweden.

Thankfully, residents of Saskatoon no longer have to drive north for wild blueberries and lingonberries. Tony Kustiak of Shellbrook is now selling them at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market and the Steep Hill Co-op. He says the berries are picked around Turner Lake and La Loche beginning in mid-September. He sells them fresh in summer and frozen in winter.

"An older gentleman from Germany who came to Canada many years ago said he hadn’t seen lingonberries since he was a little boy. He bought a big bag of them," says Tony. My husband puts Tony’s blueberries on his cereal every morning and on Valentine’s Day, he made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. I usually cook a "red" dinner on Valentine’s Day. Last year, we had a beet salad with rare steaks and a Saskatchewan sour cherry pie. This year, it was a berry red dinner: leg of lamb with Eva’s borowki preserves, wild rice salad with dried sour cherries, and for dessert, lingonberry pastry pinwheels.

Lingonberry Pastry Pinwheels
1 half package puff pastry
1/2 cup frozen lingonberries
1/2 cup walnut pieces
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. honey
pinch of grated orange rind

In a spice grinder or food processor, grind the berries and walnuts until they are roughly chopped. Mix them with the sugar, honey and a small pinch of orange rind. You can taste it and add more orange rind if you like. Roll the pastry in to a rectangle. Spread the berry mixture over the pastry. Roll the long sides of the pastry toward the middle, so that the two rolls meet in the middle. Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 1/2-inch (1 cm) slices. Place the slices flat on a cookie sheet. Since it was Valentine’s Day, I shaped the bottom of each roll into a point, so that they looked like hearts. Bake at 400F. for about 12 minutes.

You little tart - LINGONBERRY MUFFINS

Lingonberries (a.k.a. low bush cranberries) are so fresh -- even when they're frozen. They keep perfectly. They're small, tart, bright red and you don't have to thaw and pit them before cooking. I've been experimenting with Saskatchewan lingonberries now that I can buy them at the Saskatoon farmers' market.

LINGONBERRY MUFFINS
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 scant tsp. grated orange rind
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 + 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup frozen lingonberries (low bush cranberries)

Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt. Stir together the orange rind and sugar; add to flour. Whisk the egg with the orange juice, milk and vegetable oil. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture, add the lingonberries, and stir just to mix. Spoon the batter into a 12-cup muffin tin. Bake at 350F. for about 20 minutes.