Niklas Ekstedt's Swedish meatballs and potato salad

Swedish chef Niklas Erkstedt is in the kitchen to show us how to make the ultimate Swedish classic - meatballs.

If Mary Berry's reaction to his recipe was anything to go by, they’re delicious! In her recent TV series, Mary was so taken with Niklas' food that viewers took to social media commenting on her flirting...

Niklas joins us to cook his traditional Swedish meatballs for the whole family.

Swedish meatballs and potato salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

1 onion, finely chopped115g butter5 tablespoons breadcrumbs85ml double cream2 tsp salt½ tsp ground black pepper½ tsp finely ground juniper berries675g coarsely ground venison mince280g pork mince

For the potato salad:

4-6 potatoes1 red onion, roughly sliced3 tbsp olive oil2 tbsp red wine vinegar1-2 red beetroots, peeled and very thinly sliced1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped

Method

• To make the meatballs, heat a sauté pan, add the onions and 55g butter and cook over a medium high heat for a few minutes to soften but not colour. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

• Soak the breadcrumbs in cream for 5 minutes then add the cooked onion, salt, pepper and ground juniper

• Fold in the minced meats and mix well (do not work it too long to avoid it getting warm and splitting). Chill the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 150C, fan 130C, Gas 2

• Wet your hands and form the mince mixture into meatballs then pan fry on a medium heat with butter and oil until golden brown and cooked right through.

• To make the potato salad, cook the potatoes in a pan of lightly salted water until tender. Drain off the water then return the potatoes to the pan over a low heat for a couple of minutes to slightly dry out. Allow the potatoes to cool down then cut into 3cm cubes.

• Mix together the potato, onion, olive oil and vinegar and season with salt

• Spoon into a bowl, arrange the sliced beetroot on top and sprinkle the parsley over. Serve with the meatballs.