Topic: Ikea off my bucket list

[livo]

Yeah, I got it Onions. Just having a bit of fun as I'm sure was Santa. I don't mind anybody having a dig at Aussies. I like the playful nature of it.  I was unaware that meat and 2 veg is standard UK bloke food and not deliberately playing Aussie oneupmanship, but I saw the fun banter from Santa. He rarely misses an opportunity.

Phil, I myself could not be fully satisfied with meat and potatoes.  I love both but together a meal they do not make. Going back to original topic, even the Ikea meatballs served with only potatoes the other day was topped up with an optional fresh garden side salad.  My daughter's partner, however would quite happily eat just meat and spud. He will have 2 veg as long as the green is broccoli or peas. He'll go to an additional one by having peas and corn mix.

I remember years ago visiting a couple's home for a baked dinner. The wife was Aussie and her husband a UK expat.  Naturally she baked pumpkin along with the spuds but her husband refused to eat it. His reason was that pumpkin was cattle food where he came from. I don't know if it was just him or a UK thing.  We often do mashed potato with pumpkin and my kids still love the yellow mashed potato we served them as little kids.

One of my favourite side dishes is Mediterranean roast vegetables. Potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnips, carrots, onions, fennel bulb, capsicum, cherry tomato, zucchini, button squash, eggplant, olives etc, all thrown in the roasting tray (staggered) with some olive oil, and Greek seasonings. Once done dressed with a balsamic glaze dressing.

[Secret Santa]

I grew up on the standard Aussie meat and 3 veg.

It's sort of interesting don't you think? The standard phrase in the UK, to my knowledge, is meat and two veg. That's not to say we wouldn't have more than two veg, or one in Phil's case, but I think on average two might be more the norm. Perhaps we should have a poll?

[livo]

Aussie results from a google search.
Meat and 3 veg
https://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/category/recipes/meat-and-3-veg/
https://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/recipes/2010/january/meat-and-three-veg

Meat and 2 veg
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/245600.html
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meat_and_two_veg

It would appear to be a cultural divide.

And Whoops, that's unfortunate.  Think I'll stick to 3 veg. Just sayin', although there's nothing wrong with that. 

[livo]

I'm about to make these Swedish meatballs, so I thought I've investigated the variations from the net.  It would appear that the standard meatball recipe is fairly consistent.  The noticeable differences are that a few recipes have the following inclusions as a slight variation from the standard.

Nutmeg, Dill, Oregano, 1 clove of garlic or some minced bacon.

I didn't find any that use more than two of these in addition to the standard salt, white pepper and allspice. 

For this batch I'll make half as standard plus nutmeg, and half using other additional ingredients.

My old faithful Encyclopedia of International Cooking uses chopped parsley in their version.

Update: My house smells like Ikea.  Tomorrow nights dinner is sorted. 100 Meatballs. Here's some pics.  I wonder who rolls all the meatballs for Ikea.