Merlot Meatballs

Merlot Meatballs

Perfect holiday appetizer. Don’t have a rice cooker to make these?  Enter to win one!

I simply love my rice cooker.  It’s the one appliance that I wouldn’t ever part with because it does so much!  It doesn’t only cook rice.  In fact, rice is one of the last things I use this for!

Rice cookers cook by reduction which is why it is excellent for preparing anything with a sauce.  Reducing stocks and wine sauces intensifies the flavor.  Of course you can do this stovetop, but it’s automatic in a rice cooker–you set it and forget it!

Most cookers come with a steaming basket, so there, you have a steamer too!  It’s also a low-pressure pressure cooker of sorts since it has a gasketed lid.  However, unlike old-time real deal pressure cookers, a rice cooker will never explode on you.

One of the most valuable features to me is that it cooks pasta PERFECTLY.  I won’t go into that here, but check my blog post on Cooking Pasta In A Rice Cooker for a complete run down.

You can easily substitute frozen ready-made meatballs in this recipe.  However, I do give my standard meatball recipe in the directions.  The times are only a guide! If you are a neophyte at rice cooker cookery, you’ll have to pay attention to the cooking process because it varies by cooker.  Once you get the hang of how YOUR machine works, cooking will become a breeze!

It’s for an Aroma (or comparable brand) 8 cup rice cooker. This is pretty much the standard size.  It will cook 4 cups of rice (that’s UNCOOKED rice) resulting in 8 COOKED cups–that’s how you get the size–by the cooked cups of rice. 

Merlot Meatballs

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Merlot Meatballs

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time50 mins

Servings: 4

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 lb mini meatballs*
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup sliced onion
• 1 cup merlot wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs heavy cream
• 1 tbs butter
• Meatballs:
• 8 oz very lean ground beef
• 2 tbs finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp brown gravy mix
• 1 egg

Instructions

• *Prepared frozen meatballs may be substituted for homemade meatballs
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a rack on a shallow baking sheet.
• Mix all meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on rack on prepared baking sheet.
• Bake for 15-20 min or until lightly brown. Remove from oven; set aside.
• Set rice cooker to COOK (or rice cycle). Add butter and let melt. Add the 1/2 cup onions and mushrooms. Saute in rice cooker until onion is beginning to get soft.
• Add the meatballs to the pot. Add the merlot, brown sugar, water and the 2 tbs of cream. Close lid, set on COOK. Check in about 20 minutes--what you are looking for is the original liquid to be reduced about 50%--this GENERALLY happens when the cooker switches to warm, however, that's in my cooker and cookers vary. When you have the 50% reduction, open cooker and add the 1/2 cup of cream (you may have to add about 1/4 cup water) and stir well. Switch cooker back to COOK (or RICE) and cook until sauce is heated through and is your desired consistency.
• Conventional Directions: Follow recipe up to browning the meatballs in the oven.
• In a large skillet or saute pan, melt the butter and add the onions and mushrooms. Saute over medium heat until onion is tender. Add the merlot, water, brown sugar and 2 tbs cream. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Remove cover from pan. Turn up heat to reduce sauce by half. Stir in remaining cream.
• Serve over noodles.
• Makes 4 servings.

Merlot Meatballs

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