My Heart, My Sauce

When I first started writing this blog, my husband told me that I could write about anything and post all the recipes I want, except for my spaghetti sauce. Coming from someone who isn’t even Italian and only knew Ragu from a jar, I found the comment particularly funny.  Truth be told, it would actually be very difficult to put it in recipe form.  The fact is, you have to learn by watching, like I did from my mother and my grandmother.  My sauce was good, very good actually, however I knew that something was missing.  Therefore I spent the past 10 years “perfecting” my sauce by gleaning tips and tricks from others which I am happy to share with you.  Shhhh….. don’t tell my husband.

 

I’ve shared a handful of recipes that are very near and dear to my heart, but none so much as my spaghetti sauce.  Sharing these tips with you is like giving you a piece of my heart. This post is a photographic documentary for my daughter, Alyssa, who is all grown up and on her own and misses “Mom’s Sauce”.

Tomatoes in the Food Mill

I start the sauce with fresh plumb tomatoes from my garden and supplement them with canned, peeled tomatoes because I’ve found that using all fresh garden tomatoes yields a thicker, sweeter sauce.  The ratio I use is half fresh and half canned tomatoes, but you might want to alter the this depending on your particular taste.  The same goes for the seasonings that you use to flavor the sauce.  Put the blanched, fresh and canned tomatoes through a food mill (or la machina, as my grandmother referred to it) to strip away the skin and seeds which tends to make the sauce bitter. This is by far, the messiest part, but well worth the effort in the end.



Perfectly Formed Meatballs

I usually prepare the meat prior to starting the sauce because I like the meat to flavor the sauce as it cooks. Typically, I put meatballs, Italian sausage and a slab of pork ribs.  The key to the perfect meatball is day old Italian bread in lieu of bread crumbs.  Coarsely ground and soaked in milk makes the perfectly textured meatball- remember to squeeze out the extra milk from the crumbs.  Add to meatball ingredients and use an ice cream scoop to form the meatballs in the same size and shape.

Saute Tomato Paste in Drippings

Saute the sausage in olive oil in a skilled until browned on all sides.  Remove from pan, add meatballs and brown in sausage drippings.  Add one small can tomato paste to the drippings in the pan and hit it with a splash of red wine.  Stir until the pan is deglazed and reserve to add to the sauce.

Start the sauce with chopped, fresh garlic (not that stuff in a jar!) in the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and a little water, which keeps the garlic from burning. Then add a whole, peeled onion with two whole cloves inserted into it.  For years, I used chopped onions, but unless you are constantly tending to the sauce by stirring it, they burn on the bottom of the pot. This method provides the flavor without the burning and the hint of clove is a nice juxtaposition to the acid in the sauce.  Add tomato paste mixture and browned meat (pork goes in raw and is cooked in the sauce).

Instead of using parsley, I use chopped celery leaves (thanks Beth!). The celery leaves provide a much smoother taste and helps to cut the acid in the sauce.  Add the chopped basil leaves toward the end to give it a fresh taste.

Sauce Simmering in a Pot

For me, making Sunday Sauce just isn’t complete without listening to Frank Sinatra or sound tracks from the Godfather, Goodfellas or the Bronx Tale.  Simmer sauce until it coats the back of a wooden spoon- turn off heat and let rest. Serve over hot pasta cooked in heavily salted water (1 large handful). Don’t forget the antipasto, fresh bread, freshly grated parmesan cheese and Italian red wine.  Buena Festa, bella fina!