Italian Sunday Sauce Food

ITALIAN SUNDAY GRAVY-RECIPE HANDED DOWN FROM NONNA.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 large, rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil. Brush the foil with olive oil.
• Arrange (in a single layer) pork neck bones or country-style ribs on one baking sheet and the Italian sausages on the second baking sheet. Brush the tops of all the meats lightly with olive oil.
• Cook meats in the preheated oven, until deep golden brown on all sides, turning as needed to cook evenly. Allow approximately 1 hour for the pork necks and ribs and 40 minutes for the sausage. Set cooked meats aside.
• Meanwhile, in a very large, heavy-bottomed stock pot, brown ground beef and pork, over medium heat, crumbling into small pieces. Remove ground meats to plate and set aside.
• Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan. Add onions, minced garlic, and carrots and cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until they soften and begin to caramelize.
• Add the wine to the pot and cook, scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Continue to cook until the wine is reduced by half.
• Add whole tomatoes with their juices, tomato paste, water, bay leaves, oregano, fresh basil, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Add the browned grounded meats, pork necks or country style ribs, and sausages back to the pot. Bring the gravy to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer.
• Simmer, uncovered for about 3 1/2--4 1/2 hours. If you have the temperature right, you should see a cheerful little bubbling on the surface of the gravy. Moderate the heat to maintain this gentle simmer throughout out cooking time.
• Stir occasionally so the meats don't stick. If the gravy becomes too thick as it simmers, add water. (If it's simmering gently, you shouldn't need to add any extra water.)
• While the sauce simmers, make the meatball. After the sauce has cooked for 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours and is nice and thick, give it a very good stir, digging down to the bottom of the pot, then add the meatballs. Continue to simmer the gravy without stirring for another 30-40 minutes, or until the meatballs are hot and the flavors marry. Remove bay leaves. You're READY to Serve. Mangia! Mangia!

INSTANT POT SUNDAY SAUCE

Steps:

• For the sauce: Add the oil to a 6-quart Instant Pot® and set to saute (see Cook's Note). Add the short ribs and brown well. Transfer to a plate, then add the pork ribs and brown well. Transfer to a plate. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the onions are golden and the garlic is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well to coat all the onions. Pour in the wine and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil and let cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the tomatoes, then add the beef, pork, sausages, 1 tablespoon salt, several grinds of black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes if using.
• Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on manual high setting for 50 minutes.
• For the meatballs: Meanwhile, combine the sirloin, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, milk, parsley, garlic, egg, some salt and a few grinds of pepper in a medium bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon. Form into 1- to 2-inch balls.
• After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Be careful of any remaining steam and unlock and remove the lid.
• Carefully remove the beef, pork and sausage. Skim any excess fat from the sauce and discard. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard any bones and excess fat from the meat. Chop the meat and sausage into bite-size pieces. Return the meat to the sauce and add the meatballs to the pot. Seal the pot and cook at manual high pressure for 5 minutes.
• After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Be careful of any remaining steam and unlock and remove the lid. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over pasta or polenta.

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN SUNDAY SAUCE

Steps:

• Cook the Sausage: Preheat broiler to high. Place sausage on a broiler pan and broil for about 15 minutes, turning once. They will finish cooking in the sauce
• Make the Meatballs:
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Combine. all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Mix on lowest setting until ingredients are just combined. Don't over mix or your meatballs will be tough. I use my kitchen aid mixer, but if you don't have one it is fine to use a large bowl and a mixer or even your hands.
• Lightly brush a baking sheet with Extra Virgin Olive oil. Form meat mixture into meatballs and place on baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake until lightly browned, approximately 20 minutes. You don't want them cooked through, just browned so they hold together. They will finish cooking in the sauce.
• MAKE THE SAUCE:
• Heat Olive Oil in a large pot. Add onions, a little salt, and cook until softened.
• Add garlic and cook another minute. A
• dd the Tomato paste, water, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to lowest setting, cover partially and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Increase heat to medium high. Add crushed tomatoes, wine, grated carrot, and season with some more salt and pepper. Bring to a slight boil, reduce heat back to low.
• Partially cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add in the meatballs and sausage and cook for an additional 90 minutes(still partially covered), stirring occasionally to ensure the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom.

SUNDAY SAUCE WITH MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Strain the plum tomatoes in a colander to extract the juice, breaking the tomatoes apart with your hands. Discard the pulp and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add 4 cloves garlic, the onion, red pepper and black pepper. Saute until the onion is soft and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add juiced tomatoes, red wine, Parmesan and salt. Add the tomato paste and the water and stir together over medium heat. *Cook's Note: Tomato paste should be added after making meatballs and ribs.
• Put the ground meat in a mixing bowl. Beat the eggs and add them to the meat along with 6 cloves garlic, the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, Parmesan and milk. Mix this all together with your hands. Wet your hands with water and continue to wet them as you pinch meat from the bowl and roll into 2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the flour.
• Heat 1/2-cup of oil in a large skillet. Add 3 cloves chopped garlic and saute until golden brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the meatballs and saute over medium-high heat, turning them until they are brown all over.
• *Cook's Note: As soon as you can pick them up with a fork, they are ready. You don't want them to be well done. If the meatball slides off the fork when you pick it up, it needs to cook a little longer.
• Cut the ribs apart and remove the membrane. Saute them in 1/2-cup oil until very brown and remove.
• Return the garlic to the oil and add tomato paste (for the sauce) to the pan; Cook, stirring, over medium heat for about 3 minutes until it softens. Remove from the heat and add to the sauce.
• Add the meatballs and spareribs to the sauce. Bring to an easy boil, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Add the basil and simmer for 15 minutes more. The spareribs should be very tender, falling off the bone and the meatballs should float in the sauce

ITALIAN SUNDAY GRAVY

Steps:

• Heat oil in very large Dutch oven.
• Add garlic and onions and saute until soft.
• Add tomato paste and stir to combine.
• Add crushed tomatoes and spices.
• Stir bring to boil, lower heat to low--cover and simmer.
• Meanwhile combine all meatball ingredients (except for flour and oil).
• Form into balls about 2-1/2 inches in diameter.
• Dredge meatballs in flour.
• Fry meatballs in oil in skillet a few at a time until browned on all sides (not necessary to cook through they will cook in the sauce) Add fried meatballs from skillet directly to simmering sauce.
• Stir and bring sauce back to a simmer.
• Cover.
• Place sausage in pot and cover with water.
• Bring to a boil and boil about 5 minutes to remove some of the fat.
• Brown boiled sausage in skillet.
• Place browned sausage in simmering sauce.
• Bring sauce back to simmer---cover and continue simmering for 2 hours over low heat---stir occassioanlly.
• Remove meatballs and sausage from pot and place on serving dish.
• Toss sauce with cooked pasta--You will have enough sauce to coat two pounds of cooked pasta.
• This freezes very well!

ITALIAN SUNDAY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat pot (I like a non stick pot) with olive oil. Diced up onion and mince garlic. Add to the pot and saute until cooked thru but not browned. Add the oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes (optional), bay leaves and basil (if using fresh basil, wait until sauce is already simmering). Add the sugar and red wine. Let the red wine reduce a bit. Add in the tomato paste and mix well with the other ingredients already in the pot. Let it kind of "melt" before adding the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. I add 1 can at a time to allow for easier blending. Add the water, stir. Cover and bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low. Put a lid on it and fugghetaboutit for a while! Stir occasionally to avoid it burning at the bottom of the pot. I would let it simmer for a minimum of 4 hours -- Make sure to fish out the bay leaves before serving!
• Serve with pasta and top with parmesean cheese or use my fave-fried bread crumbs!
• Dalla mia cucina alla tua! (From my kitchen to yours!).

ITALIAN MEATBALLS AND SUNDAY SAUCE RECIPE

Steps:

• Dice 1 onion. In a large bowl hand crush the tomatoes. Alternatively, pulse the tomatoes in a blender for 2-3 seconds.
• Coat the bottom of a large heavy pot with a 1/2 cup of olive oil and saute the onions on medium-low heat until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato paste to the onions and cook for 5 minutes, spreading the paste around with a wooden spoon.
• Add in all the hand crushed tomatoes, 1 tsp of kosher salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp of sugar. Stir the sauce until incorporated and cook on a low simmer with the lid left slightly ajar. Stir the sauce every so often (very important!) to avoid sticking. The sauce should cook on low heat for at least 2.5 to 3 hours but longer will be better.
• Begin by grating 3/4 cup of parmigiano reggiano, mincing a half cup of fresh parsley, and creating garlic paste from 3 garlic cloves.
• Add the beef and ground pork to a large mixing bowl and season with 2 tsp kosher salt and a 1/2 tsp black pepper. In a small bowl beat 2 eggs and set aside.
• To the meat, add the breadcrumbs, grated cheese, parsley and garlic paste. Pour the eggs in and mix everything together. If the mixture is too dry, add one more egg to the mix.
• With wet hands roll approximately 2" size meatballs. The meatballs can be baked on a sheet pan with wire rack at 375f for 25-30 minutes or until brown in the middle of oven.
• Place the browned meatballs in the sauce and cook for a minimum of 1 hour on low heat to allow the meatballs to absorb the flavor of and braise in the sauce.
• When the meatballs are finished, serve with choice of pasta, grated cheese and Italian bread. Enjoy!

HOW TO MAKE SUNDAY GRAVY

Steps:

• For the meatballs, mix the ground beef, ricotta cheese, parmesean, bread crumbs, egg, milk, 1/3 cup fresh basil and salt together. Knead the mixture with your hands until thoroughly combined. Roll into 2 inch meatballs and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at 400 until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• In a large pot, pour in the strained tomatoes, wine/sparkling grape juice, sugar, dried chilies and salt. Bring to a small boil.
• When the meatballs are cooked, stir them in the gravy.
• In a frypan, heat the oil and cook the sausages until they are cooked mostly through. Stir them in the gravy.
• In the same frypan, sear the ribs for a few minutes on each side. Stir them in the gravy.
• In the frypan, add the onions, sweet red pepper, celery and garlic. You may need to add a bit more oil if the pan is dry. Also, as the veggies are cooking, this is a great opportunity to 'deglaze' the pan. There are a lot of great flavours on the base of this pan and they need to get in the gravy. Pour in a little bit of water (1/2 cup) and scrape the bottom of the pan to pull up all the bits that are packed with flavour. Once the veggies are soft, pour it all into the gravy.
• Cook the gravy at a low to medium simmer for about 4 hours, or longer.
• Cook the spaghetti or other pasta according to directions on package
• Serve the Sunday gravy with the cooked pasta.

MARIE QUATTRUCCI'S SUNDAY GRAVY WITH MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Sauce.In a large Dutch oven heat the olive oil over high heat. Brown the sausage and the pork ribs over medium-high heat; don't crowd the pan and do it in batches, if necessary so meats brown well and evenly.
• When the meat is browned on both sides, move to the side of the pan and lower the heat to medium low. Add the tomato paste. Mash the paste down with a fork so it's a thin layer on the bottom of the pan and add the black pepper, garlic salt and powder and minced garlic. Simmer the paste for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure that the paste does not burn.
• Add the crush tomatoes. Stir to combine. Rinse down the sides of the crushed tomato cans adding about 1 4/ to 1/3 can of water to each can and add to sauce. Rinse down the sides of the cans of tomato paste by filling each to the top with water and then add to the pot. Stir well until the sauce and meats are combined.
• Bring to a slow boil and then immediately lower the heat and simmer very gently for 3 to 4 hours, partially covered. Periodically check the pot, stirring the sauce and adjusting the heat, if necessary. Simmer until the sauce is thick but still creamy, about 3 to 4 hours. If it gets too thick, add small increments of water. Let the sauce cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight. Reheat the sauce very gently over low heat, adding water if it's too thick.
• Meatballs. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl combine the meats using your hands, squeezing through your fingers to combine the meats thoroughly. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic, black pepper, salt, Parmesan and chopped parsley. Mix together with your hands, squeezing through your fingers. Form into 2- inch balls and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the meatballs are browned but not crusty. Drain on paper towels and add to the simmering sauce. Cook in the sauce for the last 45 minutes of simmering the sauce, adding small amounts of water if the sauce gets too thick. Serve over pasta of your choice such as pappardelle.

SUNDAY SAUCE

Steps:

• Season the pork shoulder all over with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high. Working in batches if necessary, cook the pork until browned on two sides, 8 to 10 minutes total, adding more oil if the pan looks dry. Transfer pieces to a bowl as they finish. Add the sausages to the pot and cook until browned, 4 to 6 minutes total. Transfer to the bowl.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, if needed, and the onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the red wine, stir, scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan and cook until the wine is nearly evaporated, 2 to 4 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and basil, then fill one of the 28-ounce cans with water. (You'll use it in a second.) Return the pork shoulder and sausages to the pot, along with any accumulated juices in the bowl. Nudge them around so they are submerged. Add the meatballs on top, then add enough water from the can to cover the meat. (There's no need to stir.) Partly cover the pot, bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pork shoulder falls apart when shredded with a fork, 2 to 2½ hours.
• When you're ready to eat, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package instructions until al dente. While the pasta cooks, slice the sausage and shred the pork shoulder. Transfer to a platter along with the meatballs and a few spoonfuls of sauce. Reserve ½ cup pasta water, then drain and add the pasta to the pot of sauce. Over medium heat, toss the pasta with the sauce, adding pasta water as needed until the sauce clings to the pasta.
• Divide pasta between bowls, then top with a bit of each meat. Pass the Parmesan and platter of meat at the table.

ITALIAN SUNDAY SAUCE

Steps:

• Sprinkle neck bones on all sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat 4 teaspoons oil in a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place neck bones in the pot and cook for 6 minutes, flipping halfway through. Transfer to a plate.
• Add sausage links to the drippings and brown for 3 minutes on each side, adding remaining oil as needed. Set aside with the pork.
• Add onion to the drippings and season with salt. Cook, stirring often, until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
• Add tomato puree and crushed tomatoes, than add water and sugar; cook, stirring constantly, until smooth. Add bay leaf. Rub basil and oregano between your fingers to release the aroma and add to the sauce.
• Slice sausages into large chunks and return to the pot with the neck bones; bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add meatballs, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 6 hours.
• Remove neck bones and bay leaf. Remove any meat remaining on the bones, shred, and return to the sauce.