Sunday Sauce and Meatballs

Earlier this week I shared a few of our holiday traditions and one of them included making my great-grandmother’s recipe for Sunday sauce and meatballs. She called it “gravy” with her thick Brooklyn, NY accent. The recipe makes a HUGE batch, so we end up freezing it into smaller containers, giving some away to family, then enjoying the rest at a later date. You can also cut this recipe in half, if you don’t have a very large pot I would recommend that. When I cut the sauce recipe in half, I’ll keep the meatball recipe the same but it’s up to you! This recipe was transcribed my uncle a few years ago and measurements (like in most Italian kitchens) are not exact. Feel free to adjust as needed. Here’s what you’ll need:

ingredients for the sauce:

4 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes

4 28 oz cans tomato puree

4 28 oz cans tomato sauce

3 12 oz cans of paste or 6 6 oz cans

8 big cloves of garlic (minced and divided)

3 baseball size cooking onions (thinly sliced)

2 cups of sugar

Olive oil (not extra virgin)

Fresh ground pepper

Garlic powder 

8oz Chianti wine (divided)

1 3/4lb Pecorino Romano cheese (grated)

1 bay leaf

Crushed red pepper flakes

Fist full of fresh basil

1 lb package of stew beef (1 inch chunks)

12 to 16 Italian sausages sweet or hot (divided)

ingredients for the meatballs:

2 sausage links (out of the 12-16 mentioned above)

3 lbs of 80/20 ground beef

1 lb ground veal 

3 small eggs

4 oz whole milk

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

Fresh Italian parsley

2 small snack boxes raisins (optional)

1/4cup pignelli / pine nuts (optional)

Vegetable oil for frying

notes: make sure the tomatoes are not the flavored/ seasoned kind. My great-grandmother preferred Contadina brands but I’ve used a mix of other reputable brands when I haven’t been able to find. She also liked to use Wesson vegetable oil but honestly, anything works. Make sure you use regular olive oil and not extra virgin, it’s not meant for frying / high heat.

instructions:

1. Heat a large sauce pan on medium-high heat and fill with a quarter inch of olive oil. Pack your sausage links (except for two, you’ll need those for meatballs) tight and flat on top of the oil in the pan. Season with hefty shakes of crushed red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, garlic powder and one minced garlic clove.

2. Cook sausages on medium-high heat with lid on, browning one side really well but be careful not to burn. Once they’re sizzling, put a 1/4 cup of water on top. Once browned on one side, pull them out and put into a baking dish. They will release some juices so be sure to put into a container that won’t spill (going to need it later).

3. At this point, there should be a little bit of sausage build up on your pot - do not fret! Take those thinly sliced onions and throw them in the pot with a generous splash of olive oil and add remaining six more cloves of garlic.

4. Once you see the onions start to melt, add 4 oz of your wine. Keep stirring.

5. Once the onions are cooked add 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of puree, 1 can of sauce. Stir really well.

6. Turn heat down to medium. Add all of your tomato paste, use a whisk to break the paste down / remove chunks.

7. Add your fist of basil, bay leaf and 1 cup of sugar (you can add two but I like to start with one and adjust as we go on).

8. Add remaining cans of crushed tomatoes, puree, and sauce. Stir well.

9. Add 1 1/2 cups of pecorino romano, the remaining 4 oz of your wine and a dusting of ground pepper.

10. Throw in your package of raw stew beef, stir well.

11. Add your sausages back into the sauce and its juices. Add an empty tomato can full of water, stir well. Make meatballs (see below). Adjust heat to low and cook slow until bubbling for 2-3 hours. Be sure to stir every 15-20 minutes or so, making sure you hit the bottom so you don’t have any meat burn.

Time to make the meatballs

1. Dump the ground beef and ground veal into a bowl. Take the two remaining raw sausage links and squeeze them out of their casing into bowl.

2. Add breadcrumbs, eggs, milk, heavy shake of garlic powder, fresh ground pepper and chopped parsley. Put your remaining cup of pecorino romano in. If you’re adding pine nuts and raisins, add them in now.

3. Coat your hands in olive oil and combine ingredients well. To form meatballs, feel free to add more oil to your hands and make to your preferred size. Be sure to tuck the raisins and pine nuts into the balls so they are not exposed.

4. In a frying pan, warm up equal parts vegetable oil and olive oil. Fry meatballs until they’re light brown on both sides.

5. Take meatballs out of the frying pan and drop them into the sauce, shaking off the oil first.

6. Continue to stir the sauce, feel free to taste and add any extra (salt, cheese, sugar or basil) to taste. Cook until meatballs are cooked through. Enjoy with your pasta of choice!

Here is a picture of my great-grandmother, Mary Ferrara and my mom in 1993. I hope she is proud and happy that we’re continuing her legacy with this special recipe. I also hope doesn’t mind me sharing her secret recipe with all of my closest internet friends.

I like to pair the sauce with pasta and fresh bread, maybe a side salad if we’re feeling ambitious. This sauce freezes really well, be sure to divide it up into individual containers before freezing (made that mistake before). I also like to reuse it in lasagna by chopping up the meatballs and sausage. If you don’t eat meat, I had a reader tell me she made it without and said it was fabulous. If you make the recipe, please tag me! I’d love to see and re-share. For a printable version, click here! Thanks for reading. xx CMK