Wine Sauce for Keftedes (Keftedes Tou Fournou Krasata)
Submitted by ChefKittah
Greek red wine and tomato sauce with bay leaf, whole cloves, and oregano for oven-baked keftedes meatballs. Simmered until thick and fragrant, this is the authentic way to finish keftedes tou fournou.
YIELD
1 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
60 minREADY
90 minIn Greek home cooking, keftedes are usually pan-fried and served hot. But this oven-baked version, keftedes tou fournou krasata, takes things in a richer direction.
Instead of frying, the meatballs are arranged snugly in a baking pan, then drenched in a quick-boiled sauce of dry red wine, tomato sauce, bay leaf, whole cloves, and oregano.
A long, slow bake lets the sauce reduce and soak into the meatballs until they’re saturated with that deep, wine-stained flavour.
This is Sunday food. The kind of dish a Greek grandmother would set in the middle of the table and let everyone fight over.
Pro Tips
- Pack the meatballs close together in the pan. They should be touching. This keeps them moist and lets them absorb the sauce from all sides.
- Remove the bay leaf and cloves before serving. They’ve done their job, and biting into a whole clove is not the surprise anyone wants.
- Use a bold, dry red wine. Something you’d drink with grilled lamb. The wine is the backbone of this sauce, so quality matters here.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare Keftedes Tiganites, but instead of frying, arrange close together on a baking pan approximately 8 x 11 x 2-inches.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small pan combine the tomato sauce, red wine, bay leaf, cloves, oregano or marjoram, salt and pepper.
Boil for 5 minutes then pour over the keftedes in the oven.
Reduce the oven heat to 300 degrees and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and cloves and serve warm.
Comments