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Wellspent Market founder Jim Dixon has been writing about food and restaurants for Willamette Week for a long time. He wants our readers to eat well, and he shows them how with the recipes he creates just for us by using simple cooking techniques and easy-to-find ingredients.
We’d been in Stockholm for a few days when we walked by Meatballs for the People, a restaurant that serves a seemingly endless variety of what’s sometimes called Sweden’s national dish. And while the menu offers an international meatball smorgasbord with flavors from North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond, nearly every plate I could see on the tables outside looked exactly the same: the classic Swedish matchup of meatballs in creamy gravy and a mound of mashed potatoes, flanked by a deep red pool of lingonberry jam and a tangled pile of quick pickled cukes.
I’d already had the requisite Swedish meal at a different restaurant the day we arrived, and despite the culinary cliché I was surprised at how well the flavors worked together. It’s true that the simple meatball-gravy-potato combo can be stodgy and bland, but with the subdued sweetness of the lingonberries and the acidic hit from the cukes it transcends the bork-bork-bork blandness.
While you’ll need to hit Ikea for the lingonberry jam, the cucumbers are easy to make. They’re sometimes translated to “pressed cucumbers” on English menus, a reference to the technique of stacking weight on salted vegetables to expel water, something Portland’s fermentation-crazy cooks know well. My own version of Swedish meatballs includes what I like to call umami enhancers so I think they’re pretty good on their own, but the next time I make some there will be lingonberries and pressgurka alongside.
Recipe
1 long English-style cucumber*
1½ teaspoon kosher-style sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
⅔ cup water
⅓ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon dried dill)
*These are the long, pointy cukes usually wrapped in plastic; during the summer you can get the shorter version, often called Persian cucumber. Use a couple to approximate the length of the English cucumber.
Slice the cucumber as thinly as possible, toss with the salt, and transfer to a colander set over a bowl (or put it in the sink). Fill a large ziplock back with water and put it on top of the cukes. After about 30 minutes, remove the ziplock and brush any excess salt off the sliced cucumber. Transfer to a bowl.
While you’re waiting for the cukes, combine the water, vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and allow to cool (stick it in the refrigerator if you’re in a hurry). Pour the brine over the cucumbers, add the dill, and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably longer. Use a slotted spoon or something similar to serve.
