In Mother Sauce: Italian American Family Recipes and the Story of the Women Who Created Them, Lucinda Scala Quinn shares more than 100 recipes that channel Sunday dinners of the past.
“Rarely are these women actually credited as the true founders of the Italian American cuisine,” Quinn writes. “Our immigrant Italian mammas fashioned a whole new foodway despite being ostracized from the mainstream society of their newly adopted country.”
Telling their stories while sharing their recipes, Quinn blends practical (and frugal!) Italian wisdom with essays, autobiographical details and archival photos that echo the comfort of a family gathering around a big Italian kitchen table. We share here Quinn’s recipe for a Sunday dinner of your own.
Sunday Sauce
Makes 8 to 10 servings
A tomato sauce with the thickness and consistency of gravy, flavored with a base of meat drippings, is called “gravy” in the Italian communities of New Jersey and South Philadelphia. In the densely populated Italian American communities of Boston, Chicago, Rhode Island, and San Francisco, it’s just “sauce.” Regardless, it’s meant to feed the whole extended family abundantly on Sunday after Mass, during the so-called day of rest. Let’s face it, making the sauce is not exactly restful for the cook, but it’s a labor of love. It anchors a feast, large or small, meant to be consumed languorously at the table over several hours.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about 1 pound of meat per 28-ounce can of tomatoes, and 3 garlic cloves per pound of pasta; use a combination of bone-in and boneless beef, pork, and/or veal, depending on what you prefer or is available at the market. Less-expensive braising cuts like chuck or shank, with their marbled fat and bones, bring the most flavor to the sauce. Trim off any excess fat to prevent the sauce from being too greasy. The meatballs get dropped into the simmering gravy to cook toward the end. Sausages vary widely in saltiness and seasoning, so unless you’re using a familiar source, cook them in a separate pan and then add at the end to prevent them from overpowering the final flavor. If you’re a regular Sunday sauce family cook, you’ll want a large Dutch oven (such as an enamel-coated cast-iron pot) and an extra-large boiling pot to accommodate up to 2 pounds of macaroni at a time. Finally, meal preparation is much more fun, and less exhausting, if you shop a day or two in advance and prep a few things ahead on Saturday, so you can get a fresh start on cooking the food and setting your table on Sunday morning.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork ribs— country-style, back ribs, or spareribs
- 1 pound bone-in beef shank, chuck, or short ribs
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 9 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, halved lengthwise, root end left intact to hold the layers together
- Three 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, coarsely blended or chopped
- 12 meatballs (use your favorite recipe or try one from the book!)
- 2 large sprigs fresh basil
- 1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausages (optional), each poked in several spots
- 3 pounds macaroni, such as rigatoni, penne, fusilli, or campanelle
- Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese for serving
Instructions
- Generously season the pork and beef with salt and pepper. Heat a large heavy pot over medium-high heat and swirl in the olive oil. When it glistens, and working in batches, add the meat to the pot and sear on all sides until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Pour off most of the excess fat, leaving about ¼ cup in the pot. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and onion, and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute, being careful not to burn them.
- Pour in the tomatoes, then half-fill one can with water and add to the pot, scraping the brown bits off the bottom. Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pot and simmer, partially covered, for 1½ hours.
- Remove the onion halves from the pot and discard. Increase the heat to high and carefully drop in the meatballs one by one, gently stirring (so they don’t break apart before they are firmly set) as you go to coat them in the sauce. Add the basil sprigs, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, partially covered, until the meatballs are cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, poke each sausage a couple of times with a fork or sharp knife. Place the sausages and 1 cup water in a large skillet and bring to a simmer over high heat. Simmer, turning to brown the sausages on all sides, until most of the water has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Pour off any excess fat and add 1 cup of the simmering tomato sauce to the pan; remove from the heat and cover to keep warm. (When ready to serve, add the sausages to the bowl with the rest of the meat.)
- While the sausages are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and warm a large serving bowl. Add the macaroni (1 pound at a time unless the pot is very big) to the pot and cook for 2 minutes shy of the package instructions (the pasta should be slightly soft but with a firm chew to it). Drain the noodles, transfer them to the warm bowl, and stir in some sauce to coat. Repeat with the remaining macaroni. (If cooking all 3 pounds of pasta at once, drain the noodles, return them to the pot, and stir in some sauce to coat. When ready to serve, fill the warm bowl with the sauced pasta and refill as necessary.)
- If serving family-style, warm another large serving bowl and fill it with the meat and sauce. If serving individually, heat the pasta bowls or plates before serving by setting them on or next to the oven, on a warm stovetop, or in a low oven. Place extra sauce and meat in a small warm bowl on a plate, with a large spoon or small ladle. Either way, place a small dish (or two) of grated cheese on the table.
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