Dinner for Two: IKEA-Inspired Swedish Meatballs and Smashed Potatoes

Mr. English and I are still in what I call the Ikea phase of our lives—style without heavy investment—and we celebrate our home improvements with full Swedish meatball dinners whenever we hit the shop. Yes, I often do break down and buy the huge sack of frozen meatballs (see ourfull review of IKEA's food here), but I thought there had to be a fresher and almost as easy way of making killer Swedish meatballs. And there is!

The secret is to buy sausage: good, sweet pork sausage.It's already full of flavor and seasoning, so to make the perfect Swedish meatball, all you have to do is take it out of its casing, mash it up with some breadcrumbs, milk, and a pinch of nutmeg or allspice, and roll it into little balls. Forget about filling meatballs with herbs, onions, garlic, and all that. It's already in the sausage!

All I do is brown the meatballs in a pot, pour over a slug of beef broth (I used the concentrate stuff you stir into hot water from the pantry) and a glug of sour cream. I just smash up some potatoes, and pour these creamy, meaty little babies over them. They are light, coated in that thick tangy gravy, with that Scandinavian zip of the warmth of allspice. You can serve it with some Ikea Lingonberry jam if you've got it.