Recipe: Swedish Meatballs With Blueberry Cream Sauce

Blueberries are starting to appear in the shops and here is a really original way of using them. I got the idea from a little restaurant I went to on holiday. It is great served with noodles or garlic mash - just pop a couple of peeled cloves of garlic into the pan with the potatoes before bringing them to the boil and mash it all together. Blueberry sauce is great with other meats too - lamb chops, duck breast or even venison.

Serves 4

Sweedish Meatballs:

60g fresh breadcrumbs
125ml single cream
Olive oil
1 onion, grated
300g minced beef
150g minced pork
Zest of 1 lemon
1 heaped tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 egg
1 tsp salt
Plenty freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground

1. Put the breadcrumbs and cream in a bowl and set aside for 10 mins.

2. Mix all the ingredients except the oil together really well, squishing it all up with your hands.

3. Shape into balls about the size of walnuts packing them quite tight.

4. Heat the oil over a meduim heat and fry the meat balls in batches. Do not overcrowd the pan. Turn them now and again until they are browned all over, about 15 minutes. They should remain juicy in the middle and not too dry.

Blueberry Cream Sauce:

1 glass red wine
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
750ml beef stock (you can buy it ready made or use stock cubes made up to packet instructions)
1 tsp honey
Salt
150g blueberries
150ml double cream

1. Reduce the wine, balsamic vinegar and honey down till you have only a few spoonfuls left, be careful to watch towards the end of this process as there is only a few seconds between rich sticky sauce and burnt solids.

2. Add the beef stock and blueberries and reduce till reduced by two thirds

3. Add the cream and simmer for 5 mins or until the sauce has reached the desired consistency

4. Check for salt, strain and serve with the meatballs and garlic mash and enjoy!