“Cloudy with a chance of wine and meatballs!”
I recently took a fun weekend trip to Napa with one of my roomies and was inspired to cook with wine. It's chilly and rainy right now in San Fran so I am craving something warm and hearty. Being from Jersey I know how to make a mean tomato sauce and meatballs and I usually use some red wine to flavor the sauce but I wanted to take it up a notch and get the recipe real twisted. I tried two things - braising the meatballs in wine in the oven and poaching a few in wine on the stove top. I have to say the poaching simply made my meatballs purple on the outside and I don't think did much to punch up the dish . The braised meatballs however came out tender and delicious. I also cooked my noodles in wine (I saw a Buzzfeed video about this and wanted to try it). The results added this extra depth of wine flavor that was really great. And the resulting purple noodles from being cooked in wine stole the show at the table when I served my friends.
Wish it was diamonds, but meat chunks are cool too.
MEATBALL INGREDIENTS
3 types of meat - ground beef, ground pork, and ground lamb (about 1 pound each)
1 fine chopped yellow onion
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons of dry oregano
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of red wine (I use a favorite drinkable $12 cabernet sauvignon)
Few fresh basil leaves chopped finely
2 eggs
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
3 dashes of Worcestshire Sauce
Pinches of Salt & Pepper
COOKING THE MEATBALLS
Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees.
Cook up the meatball mixture | Saute the chopped onion in olive oil over medium/high heat for a few minutes until tender. Add 1 tspn of oregano, pinch pf red pepper flakes, pinch of salt and few twists of ground black pepper and stir together. Add the tomato paste, red wine, and garlic and simmer for a 1-2 minutes to burn off the alcohol and the mixture comes together careful not to let the garlic burn. Set mixture aside and let cool.
Mix them meatballs | In large mixing ball combine the ground meats, the cooled onion mixture, eggs, bread crumbs, 1 tspn of oregano, finely chopped basil, few dashes of worcesshire sauce, and healthy pinch of salt and pepper. Mix with clean hands (or a fork if you can't handle it).
Roll them meatballs | Grab small scoop of meat and roll them gently into balls (I usually aim for a meatball somewhere between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball). This mixture should make roughly 12-15 meatballs.
Brown the meatballs first | In an overn proof saute pan brown the sides of the meatballs in some olive oil over medium/high heat. I usually am lazy and just brown the tops and bottoms (I don't have patience to do all sides).
Bake the meatballs | Once the meatalls are browned pour about 2 cups of red wine around the meatballs and pop the whole pan into the 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I flipped the meatballs over after the first 10 minutes. Once they are basically done you can serve as is or pop them into tomato sauce to serve.
TOMATO SAUCE INGREDIENTS
1 medium carrot finely diced
1 celery stalk finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 cup of chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup of red wine (I also stole a few big spoonfuls of the wine the meatballs cooked in for extra flavor)
2 14 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes (like San Marzano).
Salt & pepper to taste
COOKING THE SAUCE
Saute the chopped veggies | In a stew pot or dutch oven saute the onion, carrot, and celery until tender. Lightly salt and pepper them while they cook. Add the red pepper flakes, oregano, parsley, and garlic - cook for about a minute before adding the wine.
Add the wine and tomatoes | Add the wine to help deglaze the pan. You can also add in the few spoonfuls of the wine the meatballs have been cooking in for extra falvor. Add the tomatoes and some more salt and pepper to taste, bring to a simmer.
Add the meatballs and simmer | On a low simmer you can choose to transfer the baked meatballs into the sauce (i do). This helps add a depth of flavor to the sauce as well as finishes cooking the meatballs. Simmer the for at least 15 minutes before serving.
COOKING THE NOODLES
1/2 bottle of red wine
2 cups of water
1 pound of dried spaghetti
Boil wine and water | In a pot bring 1/2 bottle of red wine and 2 cups of water to a boil. Add your pasta (i used spaghetti noodles) and cook according to your brand's instructions, string occasionally to keep the noodles from sticking. I needed them to cook a little longer than normal in the wine to get to the right texture. Drain the mixture in a colander (don't rinse the noodles), they should appear a deep winey purple color.
THOUGHTS ON SERVING
I thought the noodles looked so cool that I plated them in my serving dish without the sauce on top. I instead served the sauce and meatballs in a seperate serving bowl and people fixed their own plates. I topped with some freshly grated good parmesan cheese and sprinkle of chopped basil. I also made some homemade garlic bread to sop up the sauce.