Helga's Meatballs and Gravy With Carrot-Apple Mashed Potatoes From 'Marcus Off Duty'

Maggie Mariolis
Helga's Meatballs and Gravy With Carrot-Apple Mashed Potatoes From 'Marcus Off Duty'
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  • Yield:Serves 4, with about 6 meatballs each
  • Active time:1 hour 15 minutes
  • Total time:1 hour 15 minutes
  • Rated: 4.0
This recipe appears in:
Helga's Meatballs and Gravy With Carrot-Apple Mashed Potatoes From 'Marcus Off Duty'

These classic Scandinavian meatballs are best served alongside Marcus Samuelsson's pickled cucumbers. [Photograph: Paul Brissman]

There's a reason why these meatballs have a permanent place on the menu at Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem hotspot, Red Rooster, and why they get mentioned in nearly every review of the place: his grandmother was on to something. In an act of kindness, he shares the recipe—her recipe—in his new cookbook, Marcus Off Duty, and it's a winner. In Sweden, where Samuelsson grew up, meatballs and mashed potatoes are essentially a street food, as ubiquitous as a burger and fries are here. I'm sure everybody's grandmother has their standby recipe, and I don't know how unique Helga's is, but it's perfect. For the balls, ground beef, pork, and veal are mixed with cooked onion, heavy cream, breadcrumbs, egg, and a bit of honey. In a decidedly non-traditional twist, Samuelsson uses a grill pan to cook them, charring the exterior while leaving the inside tender and moist. Then the meatballs are simmered in a tangy, rich, lingonberry gravy that's "pure Grandmother Helga," he says. (The secret weapon in the gravy is a couple spoonfuls of juice from his Pickled Cucumbers, which is a streak of sunshine through the clouds.) Again, Samuelsson shakes up the traditional Swedish preparation by adding carrots, apple, and loads of onions to his striking buttermilk mashed potatoes. This is rustic comfort food at the hands of a master (I'm talking 'bout Helga.)

Why I picked this recipe: I never had the pleasure of trying Red Rooster's meatballs, but I just had a feeling they'd one-up Ikea's version.

What worked: The meatballs themselves are juicy, well-flavored, and totally versatile. And the classic gravy is out-of-this-world.

What didn't: I liked the results of the grilling, but the process of getting each ball charred (but not too charred) all the way around and cooked through was a little dicey. Worth it, but if you'd rather, using a skillet or baking them would be fine. Also, thinly slicing the large amount of onion and shallot for the mashed potatoes resulted in rather stringy final product—the strands of onion distracted from the creamy mash.

Suggested tweaks: I suggest finely chopping the onion and shallot instead. And please note: The mash ends up looking very unlike the vibrant orange version in the photo; they're really orange-flecked mashed potatoes. (The photo also shows an alternative preparation for the meatballs with a tomatillo-avocado salsa, as opposed to the gravy.) Samuelsson suggests serving this with the Pickled Cucumbers whose juice brightens the gravy; I wholeheartedly second that motion.

Thanks to our friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, we are giving away 5 copies of Marcus Off Duty this week.

Excerpted from Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook at Home © 2014 by Marcus Samuelsson. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Ingredients

  • For the Meatballs:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 pound ground chuck or sirloin
  • 1/2 pound ground veal
  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 large egg
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • For the Gravy:
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup lingonberry preserves
  • 2 tablespoons juice from Pickled Cucumbers
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • For the Carrot-Apple Mashed Potatoes
  • 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 teaspoon horseradish, preferably freshly grated
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. 1.

    Make the meatballs: Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

  2. 2.

    Combine the bread crumbs and heavy cream in a large bowl, stirring with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened.

  3. 3.

    Add the sautéed onion, beef, veal, pork, honey, egg, and salt and pepper to the bread crumbs and mix well. Wet your hands (it keeps the meatballs from sticking) and shape the mixture into meatballs the size of golf balls, placing them on a plate lightly moistened with water. You should end up with about 24 meatballs.

  4. 4.

    Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill the meatballs, in batches if necessary, until browned all over and cooked through, about 9 minutes.

  5. 5.

    Make the gravy: Bring the broth, cream, preserves, and pickle juice to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

  6. 6.

    Add the meatballs to the gravy, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until the gravy thickens slightly and the meatballs are heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.

  7. 7.

    Make the apple-carrot mashed potatoes:
    Meanwhile, put the potatoes into a large saucepan, cover with salted cold water by at least an inch, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Put the carrots and apples in another saucepan, cover with salted cold water by at least an inch, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

  8. 8.

    While the potatoes, apples, and carrots cook, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add the onion, garlic, shallots, vinegar, and honey. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until the onion and shallots are tender, about 10 minutes.

  9. 9.

    Drain the potatoes and the carrots and apples and return them to one of the cooking pots. Mash coarsely with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the buttermilk, horseradish, and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  10. 10.

    To serve, spoon the carrot-apple mashed potatoes onto dinner plates and top with the meatballs and gravy.

Maggie Mariolis
Contributor

Maggie is a freelance writer and recipe wrangler. A pastry gal by training, she spent three years at Food & Wine cooking and eating all manner of deliciousness before having a baby and fleeing NYC. She now lives in New Orleans with her husband and daughter. She is always hungry.

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