Loging-Family Swedish Meatballs and Yellow Split-Pea Soup

So I think I have covered in previous posts that attempts to explain why my traditional German family has traditional Scandinavian dishes in their family repertoire. In case it was missed, my ancestor was a minister in the German-Lutheran church in Wisconsin, got ticked and moved his family to the Norwegian/Swedish Lutheran-Church.  Swedish meatballs or Kottbullar became a “traditional family food”. 

According to Mimi’s 1000 Foods to Eat, Kottbullar (Swedish Meatballs) are the 2^nd most famous meatballs, right behind the Italian version. For one of my little friend-group potlucks, I decided to make the family recipe as well as a yellow pea soup (Artsoppa) that is eaten on Thursdays in Sweden that is listed in the 1000 Foods to Eat and whose recipe I found on Spruce Eats.  The split-pea recipe scared me to death as it had the weirdest spices in it: thyme, cloves and ginger and then to top it off, a swirl of a whole grain mustard.

Somehow, this all came together and the flavors marry. You can’t taste the ginger and nothing is overpowering.  I did think that if a soup was eaten on a day of the week, it deserved to be investigated.  Turns out for 500 years, Swedes have been eating pea soup with healthy doses of ham along with pancakes covered with whipped cream in order to keep themselves plump and happy as they entered fast Friday. I followed this tradition and, in addition to the hamhocks mentioned in the recipe, I decided to mix a good dose of cubed ham into the soup. I liked the extra meat…..