I love to cook.
I talk, and write, a lot about the cooking I do. Some marvel at my insistence of cooking everything from scratch and the avoidance of processed food. As an Italian American, I take my food and cooking seriously. It is a passion, and it seems as if the ability to cook from memory is wired in my DNA. There are a lot of recipes I know — I do not write them down – I simply cook from memory. When I am asked by a friend to share these recipes, I struggle, because I find it difficult to put into writing what I do from memory. So this post is an attempt to share one of the most requested recipes I have — my tomato sauce.
Sauce is important for Italian Americans. Every grandmother, mother, grandfather or father has their own style and own techniques. Their recipes are passed down to each generation, and their sauce is an expression of each Italian American cooking soul. Sauce is a religion. It is life.
It is a mark of a good cook who can take simple ingredients and turn them into a mouth watering sauce. When entering a house for the first time, I know right away if the sauce is made from scratch. How? The heady aroma of garlic and onion, the sharp twang of tomato, and the warm blanket of long cooking, envelops a house with aromas that put Olive Garden to shame.
Sauce is life. Period.
I have five sauces that I use at all times. Each one is a different flavor and is suited to a different application. I also make a lot of sauce. Sauce is one of those things that taste better with age. I always make a huge batch, portion it out in containers and freeze them. That way I have my sauces ready to go when I need them. The time investment for making sauce is a little high, but in the end it is worth it when you have fresh sauce in the freezer ready to go.
Ok, I have been asked more times than I can remember about how I make my pasta sauce and meatballs.
What you see here are the meatballs. The recipe is easy as hell:
1 lb of Ground Chuck (I grind my own)
1 lb of Ground Pork (I grind my own)
1lb of Ground Veal (I grind my own)
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan (I go with Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
3 cloves of garlic minced (I typically grate it with the micro plane)
1 egg
Salt and Pepper
Plain breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan in a pie plate.
Take the above ingredients, add them to a large bowl, and mix them. Do not over work it, and simply get the ingredients mixed. Roll into balls, and then roll the meatball in the mix of breadcrumbs and cheese. Stack them on a plate and let them rest for a few minutes.
Once you have your meatballs, you want to brown them in a skillet. Browning them, seals in the juices, as well as forms a nice crust on the meatballs. There are many ways you can brown the meatballs. Sometimes I bake them in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, but this does not give them a nice crust. In addition it tends to cook them, which for the case of my sauce, I do not want to cook the meatballs — yet. I simply want to brown them. When browning the meatballs, make sure to not overcrowd the pan, brown a few at a time, and then set them aside while you brown the others. I typically put them in a plastic container so that the juice collect.
Now you might notice, that the meatballs are still pink in some areas, and that I have said do not cook them through. The reason for this is that I cook the meatballs in the sauce. Sauce making, is a long process, and by putting the meatballs in the sauce, they slowly cook, and add their flavors to the overall flavor of the sauce. This also gives you very moist and tender meatballs.
As the meatballs rest and brown, I also work on the sauce. Sauce making is easy, but the key thing to keep in mind is the prep. Get the prep done first, so that the cooking goes easy. If you want to make spaghetti and meatballs, this is the sauce I typically go to.
Ingredients
2 carrots, diced
2 celery, diced (I am allergic to celery so I do not add it in)
1 Red Onion, diced
1 White Onion, diced
1 Yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 bottle of good red wine
6 32-ounce cans of crushed or pureed tomatoes (Picture to the right is one of the brands I use).
Salt & Pepper
At least 3 to 4 rinds of Parmesan cheese
First question first, why so many tomatoes? I make a lot, package it up and freeze it. Doing this, I always have sauce ready to go.
Anyway, drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of you pot (you will need a big one), and add the diced onions, carrots, celery and minced onion to it. Make sure you do not have the heat to high, you want to sweat the aromatics. Sweating them, makes them soft, sweeter and gives you a much better flavor. Cover the pot, stir occasionally, but forget about it for about 20 minutes. This is when I usually brown my meatballs, while the sweating is going on.
When the sweating is over the aromatics will be soft, translucent and sweet. This is when you want to add the red wine.
Half a bottle. I know, that is a lot, but again you are making a lot of sauce and you will need the flavor.
So what red wine do you use? Your choice. If you would drink it, you should cook with it. The only rule I have with cooking with wine, is that I try to match the wine to the country of origin the dish I am cooking is from. If I am cooking French, I use French wine. If I am cooking Spanish, Spanish wine. You get the point. Since this recipe is Italian in nature, I stick to an Italian red like a Chianti. I typically use this wine when making my sauce:
Why this one? It stands up to the cooking. Add the wine, and let it reduce by half. This typically takes about 20 minutes to do. At the end the wine will be thick, and the smell 
heavenly.
Once the wine is reduced, you are in the home stretch.
Add the tomatoes and stir well.
Ok, before you ask, I will answer the question. No, no tomato paste. Why? You are going to simmer this sauce for at least 5-hours. In that time the sauce will thicken. Trust me on this. You add the paste, and the sauce will be very thick after the simmering.
Once the tomatoes are added and stirred, you want to put the meatballs in the sauce. I am going to point out the obvious — make sure you have used a large pot. When you add the meatballs to the sauce, the sauce will increase in volume. Stir the sauce gently, and keep the heat low. You are going to simmer this sauce for a long time.
You have one more step left, and that is adding the cheese rinds. Why do this? A lot of recipes have you add butter to the sauce. The reason is that the butter cuts the acidity of the sauce. For me, I do not like the taste the butter has, and it was by accident that I tried the cheese rinds a long time ago. Since I buy Parmesan cheese and grate it myself, I save the rinds (freezer bag in the the freezer) and every time I make sauce I take a couple of the frozen ones out and drop them in the pot.I should add, just to be safe, I freeze the Parmigian-Reggiano, Parmesan, Romano, other Italian hard cheeses, I do not freeze and keep anything else. Don’t blame me if you add anything else.
Once you put the rinds in the pot, stir well, cover, and simmer. Every 30-minutes or so, check the pot to make sure the rinds have not stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Now, the tough part — how long to simmer.
For me, I go at least 6 hours. Simmering for this long, really builds the sauce, and gives everything a chance to mix. I typically start my sauce making around 7 in the morning, and let it cook all morning. Take the time and let the sauce simmer.
Oh, and I will answer the question now, before you ask it. What about the herbs and what about the salt and pepper? I add the salt and pepper to taste, and do not go too heavy, because I use them during all steps. Herbs, on the other hand, I do not add to the pot during the simmer. Why? I am cooking this for at least 6 hours. In that time, the herbs are going to get brown and turn bitter. This does not make good sauce. What I do for the herbs, is when I reheat the sauce, I add the herbs then. This freshens the flavor.
So there you go, one of my sauce recipes. Find some time, and go for it. Long rainy Saturdays or Sundays are perfect for sauce making.
