Tonight for dinner we had one of my sons’ favourite meals – meatballs in tomato sauce.  All kids seem to love meatballs.   I have to say I am quite partial to them too as they are unbelievably quick, very tasty and cheap to make, especially if, like me, you keep breadcrumbs in the freezer and use the dregs of any wine you have knocking about in the fridge.  I know many chefs say you shouldn’t use wine for cooking that you wouldn’t drink but I really think this is a bit OTT.   For drinking I prefer a nice NZ Sauvignon but for cooking I think most bottles on ‘special’ for €5.99 in the local offie are perfectly fine for slugging into a sauce or casserole.  Provided you are not a regular meths drinker or buy stuff that would strip the enamel off your teeth then I think it is fine to use a cheapie bottle of wine for cooking. You can of course leave the wine out entirely if you prefer but I think it does give a richer sauce.  The quantities below serve 3 (if you are feeding my boys) or 4 normal people. [Read more…]