Tony’s Sunday Gravy (aka- Spaghetti Sauce)

 Ok, so here it is as promised, Tony’s Sunday Gravy. While we were cooking this morning, Tony was sharing stories about his mother making this sauce. He decided to name the meatballs Hail Mary Meatballs because, before the time of food processors to whir bread into crumbs in seconds his mother used to sit for quite some time hand shredding bread into the meatball mix saying her Hail Mary’s. Hope you enjoy.

Sunday Gravy (aka Spaghetti Sauce)

1/4 cup olive oil (Good imported Italian regular oil not extra virgin)

1 onion minced finely

10 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 cup fresh basil minced

1-14 oz can tomato paste

4 - 28 oz cans San Marzano Tomatoes (this is important you must use these)

1 cup good Chianti (preferably imported Italian)

3 tablespoons sugar

3 cups water

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste (use fresh ground black pepper)

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake

1 lb. Italian sausage sweet or hot whichever you prefer. (we get ours from a good Italian butcher in our area)

Place olive oil in 16 quart sauce pan and heat on medium high.

Add minced onion and sweat until clear.

Mix in garlic run through a garlic press continue to sweat garlic and onions and add in basil.

Add in tomato paste and continue to cook down for 5 minutes or so.

Incorporate San Marzano Tomatoes. When these are mixed in well add in water. Stir in water until it also is completely incorporated. Add in water, salt and pepper, Chianti, dried oregano, and pepper flake. Bring this to a boil  and lower heat to simmer. This is the point you would add the prepared meatballs (see below), fried Italian sausage, and braciole (see below) Simmer uncovered for 3-4 hours. Serve over pasta of your choice. It works best with pasta which has ridges to hold in the sauce such as Rigatoni.

Hail Mary Meatballs

3-4 inches of olive oil in skillet to fry meatballs

1 pound meat loaf mix (this contains beef, pork to make the most of flavor)

2-3 cloves garlic - pressed

3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/4 cup Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese grated-this is specific to this recipe if you use anything else the flavor will suffer

1/4 cup water

4 slices white bread shred into bread crumbs

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high.

Mix all ingredients together well. You may need a little more or less water. You want the meat mixture to be very moist and soft. Water helps to accomplish this.

Form into meatballs about the size of golf balls. Fry in olive oil until dark golden brown crust forms.

Drain on paper towels and set aside while you prepare braciole.

Fry Italian sausage until crust forms in same oil and drain on paper towels and set aside as well.

Braciole

6-8 thinly slice top round steaks – pounded paper thin

6-8 paper thin slices prosciutto

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg

3 tablespoons fresh parsley finely minced

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Water

1 clove pressed garlic

1/4 cup Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese grated

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Butchers twine to tie rolls up after filling

Mix together all ingredients except top round and prosciutto, adding water until  it forms a thick paste. Take one top round steak and line with prosciutto, spread bread crumb mixture over prosciutto and roll steak up to create a roll. Tie together with butchers twine and fry in oil used for meatballs and sausage. Drain well on paper towels.

After frying all meats and draining them add them to the sauce and continue to simmer as listed in sauce recipe.

This freezes well so we make this large amount and will be able to have a minimum of 2 or three meals. We also use this to make lasagna which will be listed in a future post.