Slowcooker meatballs in tomato-wine sauce
I thought I would finish up my little ode to the slow cooker with other favorite recipe from the Not your Mother’s…cookbook. This fairly basic meatballs and tomato sauce recipe is really excellent in the slow cooker. The meatballs are browned before hand, but allowed to cook for a good long time in the crock pot until they are ridiculously flavorful. This recipe only takes about 5-6 hours, which is short for slow cooker times. Therefore, I recommend this one for a weekend afternoon.
The sauce works with any kind of pasta, gnocchi, or polenta (it’s pictured above with polenta). Don’t be fooled by the long list of ingredients, this is really quite easy to throw everything together. If you skip the meatballs, it’s super easy.
For the sauce: heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 large chopped onion and 3 minced cloves of garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Add 3/4 cup dry red wine, bring to a boil, and continue boiling for about 1-2 minutes. Scrape up anything stuck to the pan. Transfer to the slow cooker.
Add a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (don’t drain), 1 6 ounce can of tomato paste, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh), 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1 bay leaf, and 2 tbsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley. Stir to combine, cover, and cook on HIGH while you make the meatballs.
To make the meatballs, combine 1.5 pounds ground turkey, 1 cup plain bread crumbs, 2 eggs, 3 tbsp fresh grated parmesan, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/4 cup fresh minced flat-leaf parsley, dash of ground allspice in a large bowl. Mix everything with your hands. Make sure all ingredients are blended, but try not to pack everything together. Gently shape into about 12-15 meatballs (they should be the size of golf balls).
Heat another tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes total for each one. You might need to do this in batches. Transfer the meatballs to the sauce once they’re ready. Add another 1/4 cup red wine to the pan; cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes, scrape up anything left in the pan. Pour the mixture over the meatballs, make sure the meatballs are covered by the tomato sauce and everything is gently mixed together. Cover and turn the heat to LOW. Cook for 5-6 hours on low. Remove the bay leaf before eating and enjoy!
Addition: If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll sautee 1/2 pound of sliced button mushrooms when there’s about 2 or 3 hours left of cooking time and add them to the sauce.
