JoeCascio.net

I’ve had a number of requests to post my tomato sauce recipe. I actually started with a published recipe, “Sally Colucci’s Gravy” (in some families, it’s called “gravy” as opposed to “sauce”) that I modified, and which has continued to evolve over time to be quite good. It generates a big quantity including about 15 meatballs, a half dozen hot Italian sausages and enough sauce for a pound of pasta with another couple pints left over for making eggplant or chicken parmesan.

At the moment, I don’t have any pictures or video of the preparation, but perhaps I can add that in the next week or so, when I make another batch. For right now, I’ll post the text so you can take a shot at making it. I would love to hear your comments about how yours turns out!

I’m not hard-core enough to make my own sausages yet, so I use Perri Hot Italian Sausages. But any good quality Italian sausage will do. All the hot-and-spicy in this sauce comes from the sausages. So if you don’t like spicy, switching to a sweet Italian sausage should work just fine.

Meatballs

• 1 pound 80-85% lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt, pepper to taste (I use none)

Sauce

• Olive oil from browning meat
• 1 lb hot Italian sausages (sweet also ok if you don’t like spicy)
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
• 2 – 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 cups “starter” sauce. I use leftovers from previous batch or some bottled sauce.
• Salt, pepper to taste

Procedure

1. In small pot boil water and par-boil the sausage for about 10 or 15 minutes. When done, remove from water and dry excess water from casing. Save the water!!
2. In a bowl combine the meatball ingredients and mix with your hands until smooth and consistent. Be sure to squish the meat thoroughly. Roll into meatballs about the size of a golf ball. Cover and set aside.
3. In large frying pan or skillet cover the bottom with a good amount of olive oil and brown the meatballs and sausages on all sides.
4. Remove browned meat from skillet and set aside.
5. Pour oil from frying meat into a large sauce pot and heat.
6. When oil is hot, pour chopped onion in and cook until soft and translucent.
7. Add basil and garlic and stir well for a couple of minutes. (This onion, garlic, basil mixture smells great, by the way!)
8. Add the two cans of crushed tomatoes and heat until bubbling, but be careful not to overheat and cause sticking, burning on the pot bottom.
9. Add the sausage and meatballs and stir thoroughly.
10. Add the starter sauce.
11. Simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally, add saved sausage boiling water in small amounts to keep at the desired consistency.
12. Tastes best if chilled overnight in the refrigerator before using.