Citrus and Mustard and Meatballs

This morning an engaged couple and the bride-to-be's family came to our house to hear us sing/play through some possible wedding music for their upcoming nuptials.  The woman's mom had heard Susan and the girls singing for church one day and phoned some days afterward to inquire about their availability to sing for weddings.  After this morning, they now have some song ideas from us to share with the priest; and they'll get back to us on what music they'd like (or are allowed to use) and what combination of us they'd like to sing, play piano, etc.

This afternoon our whole family had back-to-back appointments to get our hairs cut.  Abigail and I went first because she was my helper for this week's Scandinavian Saturday supper, and we had groceries to buy and food to start fixin' as soon as possible.  Here's what we made:

Remember to click on a photo to enlarge it so that you can drool over each pic in all its detailed glory!

Read on to find out what that is and to see/read about what we served for dessert.

Svenska köttbullar

Svenska köttbullar ["Swedish meatballs"] -- We tore up a couple slices of bread and soaked them in a little milk.  Then we added ground beef, ground pork, grated onion, an egg, ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground ginger, honey, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  We made meatballs and fried them in a combo of butter and canola oil.  Then we removed the meatballs and deglazed the pan with beef stock.  We whisked in some flour dissolved in water; and after the gravy had thickened, we whisked in heavy cream, salt, and pepper and then returned the meatballs to the pan to simmer in the gravy until it was time to serve them.

stekte poteter med sennep

stekte poteter med sennep [mustard-crusted roasted potatoes] -- We cleaned and quartered some potatoes and parboiled and drained them.  Then we tossed them in a mixture of chopped shallots, chopped garlic, coarse-grain mustard, olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  We roasted the coated potatoes in the oven until the mustard had formed a golden crust on them.

grønne bønner med sitron og dill

grønne bønner med sitron og dill [lemon/dill green beans] -- We steamed fresh green beans and then tossed them in a mixture of chopped fresh dill, minced shallots, olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, coarse-grain mustard, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

It was all delicious!  The potatoes were savory on their own, but there was nothing at all wrong with letting a bit of the gravy makes its way over toward a cut-open potato on my plate so that the starchy potato could soak up the hearty, salty, beefy liquid.  The meatballs had a great mix of flavors from the gravy, from the spices and onion inside them, and from the honey that was mixed in with the meat.  And the fresh green beans were a little tangy from the lemon juice and a little zippy from the mustard, a flavor that tied them in well with the potatoes, too.

varm sjokolade med appelsin krem og sitrus serinakaker

varm sjokolade med appelsin krem ["hot chocolate with orange cream"] and sitrus serinakaker ["citrus Serina cookies"] -- The very first thing that Abigail and I did after returning from the grocery store (before making any of the items above) was to make the dough for these cookies because it needed to chill in the fridge for two hours before baking.  Its ingredients: flour, baking powder, butter, an egg, sugar, vanilla extract, and the zest and juice of an orange.  We mixed it up, rolled it into logs, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and popped them in the fridge until after supper.  Then we sliced the dough logs into individual cookies, sprinkled them with decorative sugar, and baked them a dozen at a time.

To make the hot chocolate, we broke up several chocolate bars and melted them in a large pan of milk on the stovetop.  Meanwhile we whipped heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until the whipped cream formed stiff peaks.  Then we folded in orange marmalade.  For each serving, we topped a cup of hot chocolate with a couple dollops of the whipped cream and then sprinkled freshly grated orange zest on the top.

The chocolate was rich, and the whipped cream was, too, making for a delicious beverage that had to be sipped, not gulped--not because it was too hot but because it was so decadent.  The marmalade offered a very subtle orange flavor in the cream, but the orange zest on top was very citrus-y.  Likewise, the orange flavor was more noticeable in the raw cookie dough (of course we had to taste it!) than in the baked cookies, but we could still tell it was in there--probably because we ate them along with the orange-y beverage.  The cookies were crisp, buttery, and just sweet enough.  It was a great ending to another delicious Nordic meal!