Balestrand Recipe: Norwegian Brown Cheese Meatballs

Meat and potatoes, but prettier!

You don't really go to Norway for the food, unless you are very into pickled fish. Brad wouldn't let me make lutefisk, so I looked for other more palatable, but still traditional, dishes to represent our time here.

It is often a meat and potatoes heavy cuisine, so that seemed like a good place to start. Norwegian meatballs are similar to the more popular Swedish meatballs, but this recipe has a very Norwegian twist...

It's Mild AND Snill

Enter Brunost!

Brunost means "brown cheese" in Norwegian, though it isn't actually a real cheese at all. It belongs to a family of cheese-related products that are made from the whey that is left behind after the cheese is made from milk. Ricotta is another of these whey cheese foods and not a true cheese. Now you know! Brunost is made by boiling the whey down to evaporate most of the water. The process also caramelizes the sugars which results in the brown color of the cheese. It also gives the brunost a sweet flavor. The Norwegians often eat it for breakfast including topping waffles with the thin, brown slices.

To make the recipe for Norwegian Meatballs with Brown Cheese, I one again found myself without a crucial kitchen tool - this time it was a cheese grater. I did have a cheese slicer, so I first sliced the brunost, then attempted to cut it into shreds. Unfortunately, the cheese is too soft to successfully make shreds, so I ended up just tearing it into small pieces to add to the meatball mixture. I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used ground chicken instead of beef. I'm not sure if that caused the issue I had with them being way too wet, but they wouldn't hold a meatball shape. That's why they look more like meat patties than meatballs. Fortunately, they were still delicious. The recipe also calls to serve the meatballs with boiled potatoes, but why would you do that when roasted potatoes are so much better?

As usual, the full recipe follows the pictures below or you can download a PDF of the recipe to save or print here.

Norwegian Brown Cheese Meatballs (Kjøttkaker med Brunost)

Recipe courtesy of North Wild Kitchen

Serves 4 (about 20 meatballs)

For the meatballs:

• 1 ¼ pounds (500 g) minced/ground beef

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

• ½ small onion, finely chopped

• 1 egg

• ½ cup (120 ml) milk

• 3 ½ ounces (100 g) Brunost, grated

• 2 tablespoons potato starch/potetmel

• 1 tablespoon oil, for cooking

For the brown sauce:

• 4 tablespoons (56 g) butter

• 4 tablespoons (56 g) all-purpose flour

• 2 cups (480 ml) beef stock

• ¼ teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs, except the oil, with your hands to ensure everything is blended together. Form about 20 meatballs.

In a large, heavy skillet or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning, for 5 minutes or until brown on all sides.

For the brown sauce, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking frequently, for 6 to 8 minutes or until dark brown – be careful not to burn the flour. Slowly add the beef stock, whisking to combine, and salt. Pour the sauce over the meatballs (I keep all the juices released from the meatballs as they brown) and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and gently simmer for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve warm with boiled potatoes, a dab of lingonberry jam, if you have some, and vegetables of your choice.