Day 3 - Sweden - World Cup Eating Challenge

It's kind of nice going into a country and having at least a little knowledge of their cuisine. I knew I was going to make Swedish meatballs. Sometimes this challenge can be a little daunting though and when we passed Ikea on the way to Costco, I so badly wanted to park and run in and get meatballs.

Swedish Meatballs

I saw this recipe for Swedish meatballs and knew I wanted to do it. I decided to start with pre-made meatballs. I actually had a big challenge finding some that were gluten free though. I know brands like Adele's usually has some but lately I've only been finding the wacky flavors and that wouldn't work for this challenge. 

The first step was just to get them heated up (since they were already cooked). I was able to just leave them in the oven while I made the sauce. For that, I did some Pale substitutions, of course. I used tapioca flour as my thickener and coconut cream instead of regular. Mine was a little more liquidy since I added too much cream and stock. 

All together though, it tasted awesome! I think the meatballs may have had quite a bit of their own flavor already but the sauce was super tasty. I might hold onto it as a gravy base for other dishes!

Cream and Dill Potatoes

The creamy potatoes were kind of interesting to me. I had thought it was going to be a sort of potato salad. Then I looked through the rest of the recipe and realized there is never a place where you cool it down. They actually turned out more like potatoes in an alfredo sauce. It was a really interesting flavor profile and with a pinch salt, they were pretty tasty. I sometimes have issues with food that doesn't taste the way that I expect it too though so it took me a minute to get around that. 

As usual, I made substitutions here - coconut milk for cream, almond milk for milk, and tapioca starch for flour. This worked well but definitely but the sauce on the sweeter end so I made sure to balance it with salt and pepper.

One thing that I ask myself sometimes is how accurate the recipes I find are. I feel like Sweden is the type of place that has food way beyond the Ikea cafeteria offerings we're familiar with. Does anyone have any insights on this?