Swedish Lutefisk Recipes

MEATBALLS & LUTEFISK

Steps:

• For the meatballs: Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Add the onions and sage and cook, stirring occasionally, until deep golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove to a small bowl to cool. Wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel, no need to wash.
• While the onions cool, add the bread cubes to a large bowl. Drizzle the milk over and toss to saturate it. Let sit until the bread is softened, about 5 minutes. Squeeze the bread through your fingers to make a paste. Add the beef, pork, parsley, salt, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, egg, and cooled onions. Mix well with your hands. Roll into meatballs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (or use a small ice cream scoop - about 2 tablespoons in volume) and rest on a baking sheet or large plate. You should get about 20 to 22 meatballs.
• For the sauce: Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the over medium heat. When the butter is melted, brown the meatballs all over, in batches, removing them to the plate or baking sheet as they brown, about 4 minutes per batch. (Don't worry if they aren't cooked through at this point, they'll cook more in the sauce.)
• Once all the meatballs are out of the pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and melt. Add the sage and cook until sizzling, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a paste. Cook to lightly toast the flour, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the meatballs and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and the meatballs are cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Scoot a few of the meatballs to the side to make a space in the pan and whisk in the sour cream until smooth. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve over mashed potatoes if desired and the lutefisk on the side. Lefse (optional) too, of course.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Grease a baking dish with 1 tablespoon of oil. Set aside.
• Rinse the thawed fish well with cold water and pat dry. Place in the prepared baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until the fish flakes when pierced with a fork. (The internal temperature should be at 140 degrees F.)
• Remove the lutefisk from the oven. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with hot melted butter on the side for dressing.

BAKED LUTEFISK

Steps:

• Thaw lutefisk if frozen and cut into serving pieces.
• Rinse and drain well. Place fish skin side down in one layer of heavy foil.
• sprinkle with salt.
• Bring foil around and make a fold in it.
• Fold up ends and seal.
• Place in shallow glass pan on a rake, seam up and bake at 325 for atleast one hour.
• I do it a little more.
• Cut corner and drain out excess water.
• Serve with melted butter on a heated platter.

LUTEFISK

Steps:

• Bring water and salt to a rolling boil. Add lutefisk and return to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for 8 minutes. Check with an instant-read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature has reached 140 degrees F (60 degrees C).
• Carefully remove lutefisk from water using a scoop strainer or skimmer spoon. Cover with melted butter and serve immediately.