Laptop Lunches #203

This is a Swedish meal, prepared mostly according to lyktabento's instructions. I have a sliced boiled potato (with parsley), some strawberries, Swedish meatballs with brown cream gravy, sautéed mushrooms,  lingonberry jam, and Swedish cinnamon buns.

The first thing that felt quite different to me was having Swedish meatballs with a potato rather than with egg noodles. Another was the lingonberry jam. The brown cream gravy was also quite light compared to the American version. I made the mushrooms because they were on the picture on the packet of gravy mix lyktabento sent, and I do love mushrooms, so they were a nice addition, but not necessary--that was just something I added, like the parsley.

I liked these, but I felt like the gravy and the jam should really be an either/or proposition. The meatballs, without gravy, with the jam, are really nice. The meatballs, without the jam, with the gravy, are also really nice. I'm not sure the full combination works out for my palate, though, even though sweet-and-savory can go really well together. I think it may be the overall texture of the gravy. I don't know.

I now kind of wish I'd sent lyktabento some American Swedish meatball mix. I'm pretty sure she would have found it nearly unrecognizable!

The Swedish cinnamon buns are really nice, too. They're soft and have a light sweetness to them. I think it is just because I got the packaged kind, but they reminded me vaguely of Entenmanns. They tasted a little different without the typical frosting you'd see on cinnamon rolls here, but you don't always want frosting!

Thanks again, lyktabento!