Easy Swedish Meatballs

Have you been to Ikea?  My daughter pretty much equates Ikea with a trip to Disneyland - yummy food, fun activities for kids, you need a map to find your way around....  Luckily Ikea is much cheaper than Disney and much closer.  Every time we go, we eat at their cafeteria and my daughter always, always, always orders the Swedish meatballs.  Believe it or not, I've never ordered them and have no clue what they taste like.  They look and smell good, but for some reason I've always ordered something else off the menu. 

I like to buy the big bag of Kirkland brand frozen meatballs at Costco and then divide them up between 4 or 5 quart-size Ziploc bags.  I'll pull out a bag when making spaghetti with meatballs, or barbecue meatballs, or this time I decided to try Swedish meatballs.  I found a simple recipe for the gravy and used one of my bags of frozen meatballs.  I think traditionally Swedish meatballs are served with mashed potatoes, but I kept things simple and just steamed some white rice.  The gravy has great flavor and was a hit with my family (and myself).

EASY SWEDISH MEATBALLS
slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

1 cup beef broth
1 cup heavy cream*
3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
dash of nutmeg
dash of allspice
half of a (32 oz) package of frozen meatballs
chopped fresh parsley for garnish, optional

In a large saucepan, whisk the broth, cream, flour, soy sauce, black pepper, rosemary, nutmeg, and allspice until smooth.  Cook and stir over low heat until thickened (about 10-15 minutes).  Stir in frozen meatballs and heat through.  Serve over mashed potatoes, cooked egg noodles, or steamed rice.  Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.  Serves 4 (you can add more meatballs to serve more people - you'll just have a little less sauce).

*You can substitute 1/2 cup of milk + 1/2 cup of sour cream