Meatballs In Chili Sauce With Woodside Vineyards Kings Mountain Cabernet

This is a great dish to  take to potlucks and  parties. The chef at the Mexican restaurant mentioned in Death In The Science Classroom modified the original recipe from Bon Appetit  Serve this dish with rice. Woodside's Cabernet provides a nice pairing.

Meatballs In Chili Sauce With Woodside Vineyards Kings Mountain Cabernet

Serves 6

4 crustless squares firm white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup finely chopped white onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound lean ground beef

1 pound lean ground pork

1 cup diced canned tomatoes

2 large eggs

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

4 medium serrano chills, stemmed

2 garlic cloves, unpeeled

4 14 1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice

I 1/4 cup oil

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

For Meatballs: Combine bread, milk, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, and pepper in large bowl. Mash with fork until thick paste forms. Mix in beef, pork, tomatoes, eggs, and mint (mixture will be soft). Using 1/4 cupful for each, form mixture into 2- inch balls. Place on baking sheet; chill while making sauce.

For Sauce: Line heavy small skillet with foil; add chili
and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until skins begin to blister and blacken, turning frequently, about 15 minutes. Cool garlic then peel. Working in batches puree tomatoes with juice, chills, and garlic in blender almost smooth.

Rick didn't have any fresh garlic so he added crushed garlic to the sauce

Heat oil in heavy large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add tomato puree, 1cup water, and bring to boil. Carefully add meatballs; bring to simmer. Reduce cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Uncover and boil gently until liquid is reduced to sauce consistency stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

Place rice in a bowl under the meatballs, and top with sauce.

Woodside Vineyards

Woodside Vineyards, the grapes from which are farmed from twenty-four sites within the Woodside Township, some of them over a century old, is the oldest winery in San Mateo County, California. Some of the Cabernet wines come from the legendary La Questa vines, planted by E.H. Rixford in 1884. This winery has been credited with being one of the first to pioneer the "boutique winery" movement in California

The founder, Bob Mullen began producing wine from a little more than one acre of grapes at Woodside Vineyards in 1960. Bob and full-time winemaker, Brian Caselden, produce nearly 3,000 cases a year, specializing in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, along with other special small lots including sparkling wine and port.

In 2009, Louis (Buff) Giurlani and his partner Dick Burns purchased a 70% interest in Woodside Vineyards and the winery has moved to Menlo Park. They conceived the idea of starting a place for both fine automobiles and wines and created AutoVino. One of the many attractions of the new location is the window wall where patrons can see the wines barrels from the floor of the auto showroom.