Reindeer meatballs with glazed garlic confit and red cabbage

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Photo: Johan Jeppsson

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Reindeer meatballs with glazed garlic confit and red cabbage

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Recipe type: Main course

Author: Marcus Samuelsson

Serves: 4

Swedes have eaten reindeer meat since at least the ninth century B.C. Back then, it was all about hunting, now it?s a proper industry. More than 200,000 reindeer are herded by around 4,500 reindeer owners in the northern third of Sweden. Reindeer husbandry is an old Sami right, and forms the basis of their culture. This recipe uses reindeer meat to give a new touch to traditional Swedish meatballs.

• 8 pieces of reindeer sirloin, 1 ? tbs/20 g each
• Meatball mix:
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbs breadcrumbs
• 0,5dl (1? oz) cream
• 2 eggs
• 300g (10? oz) ground beef and pork meat
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• butter, olive oil
• Honey-glazed garlic confit:
• 4 garlics, in cloves and peeled
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 dl (? cup) balsamic vinegar
• 1 dl (? cup) honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• butter
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• Spicy red cabbage:
• 1/2 head of red cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 small red onions, chopped
• 1?dl (0,6 cup) liquid honey
• 1dl (? cup) port
• fresh thyme
• 2 tbs demerara sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• oil

Reindeer meatballs:

1. Saut? the onion in butter and leave to cool.
2. Mix breadcrumbs and cream in a bowl and let it soak for a few minutes. Add first eggs, then onion and the ground meat. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cut the reindeer meat into cubes. Envelope each reindeer cube in ground meat to form eight balls. (If there is time, let the meatballs rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.)
4. Fry the meatballs in oil and butter on medium heat until golden brown, for around 7?8 minutes. Lift them out of the pan and keep them warm.

Honey-glazed garlic confit:

1. Saut? the garlic cloves in a pan.
2. Add vinegar, honey, thyme and cinnamon.
3. Boil on medium heat for around 20 minutes.
4. Stir in a knob of butter and season with salt and pepper.

Spicy red cabbage:

1. Pour some oil into a large saucepan. Add the red cabbage, garam masala, red onion, honey, salt, pepper, port, thyme, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Simmer on low heat for around 40 minutes.
3. The meatballs can be served out of the frying pan, with cabbage and sauce on the side.

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If you can?t get hold of reindeer meet, just exclude it from the recipe and do ?normal? meatballs with only minced meat. The traditional Swedish way of serving meatballs is with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.

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The recipe was created by Marcus Samuelsson. Marcus Samuelsson was born in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 1970, and adopted by Swedish parents at the age of three. Set on becoming a chef early on in life, Samuelsson had his breakthrough as chef for well-reputed New York restaurant Aquavit in the mid-1990s with his Scandinavian cooking.

Today, he is involved in several restaurants, among them the Swedish Aquavit restaurant in Stockholm, is a guest professor at Ume? University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts, and has written several inspiring cook books. Samuelsson was also chosen as guest chef for US President Barack Obama?s first official state dinner.

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