It seems like just everyone has an Italian grandmother. I didn’t. I had a WASPy one that wore Lacoste sweaters, ran the garden club, and cooked things for me like tuna salad and Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. She had a lot of legacy to leave behind, but one thing that she didn’t pass down was a family sawce recipe.
Sauce (or gravy, as some people call it, even though I have no idea how you could possibly use the words interchangeably, but I digress) is a comfort thing to most people. It reminds them of a time when eating a bowlful of pasta didn’t require a carbohydrate induced guilt trip and a six mile run the next morning.
After a healthy take on this recipe last week, below is the original.
Meatballs (make 18):
1.5 lbs ground beef/pork/veal mix
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Locatelli cheese
fresh parsley, chopped
onion powder
Italian seasoning
Red pepper flakes
1/3 cup breadcrumbs (whole wheat, seasoned)
salt and pepper
Gently mix together in a bowl until just combined. Line a sheet with foil, spray away with Pam, and bake for 30 minutes at 400.
Sauce:
3 quarts fresh tomato puree (skins removed, seeds removed)
handful fresh basil, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 can tomato paste
Italian seasoning
onion powder
1 long hot pepper, grilled
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. butter
Add olive oil to your pot, and warm. Add garlic and brown. Add tomato paste, almost toasting it in the pot. Then, add the tomato puree. Reduce tomato puree down until a little thinner than desired consistency (this will take some time, depending on how watery your tomatoes are to begin with). Add remaining ingredients except for the butter and simmer for 2 hours. When meatballs are done, add to sauce and simmer another 20 minutes. Either remove the long hot pepper completely, or leave in. Mine stayed whole, so I left it in, just removed the stem. Add butter before serving and stir to melt into the sauce.
Serve immediately over pasta. Don’t go for a run the next morning.
Copyright 2014 Anne Mathay