Cocktails & Canapes for Women's World Cup 2015: Sweden

Tonight's game is Sweden vs  Nigeria and to make life simpler I have chosen to have a Swedish theme. I'm really not sure what I might do for a cocktail and canape with a Nigerian theme so I am putting that one off for a while.

I am serving a version of the Wolf Paw cocktail, made famous by the Swedish Ice Bar in Stockholm. I have only read about this place on the internet and here is an extract to give you an idea how crazy this place is:
At -7 degrees all year round, you are guaranteed an experience cool in every way. The interior of the bar is made entirely of ice from the Torne River in northern Sweden, including even the glasses the drinks are served in. The bar can accommodate a total of 60 people, and all guests get to borrow a warm cape and gloves. The entrance fee includes your first drink from our drinks menu, which is served in an ice glass. The experience lasts 40 minutes.

For my canape I am making the so very Swedish meatballs with some sour cream sauce.

Wolf paw cocktail

Swedish Meatballs 

The Wolf Paw cocktail should include lingonberry juice but I am having to use cranberry. It should also be served in a glass made of ice, but that would only work in the Ice bar itself, so we are just having cold glasses!

The cocktail recipe is:

1 measure of vodka (ice cold if possible)

1 measure of cranberry juice - chilled

tumbler - chilled in the fridge

ice

Shake the vodka and cranberry juice over ice and pour into a chilled glass. 

This cocktail relies on the flavour of the juice and I'm not sure I had found a very good one so do try and buy a good, well flavoured juice if you can.

The Swedish Meatball recipe is one from Diane Henry's Roast Figs Sugar Snow and it includes a very nice dill cream sauce. I passed on the cranberry/lingonberry preserve as I was including cranberry in the cocktail.

For a main course I would serve these meatballs with spaetzle pasta and plenty of the dill cream sauce.