Calling all Italian's or anyone that makes their own homemade sause

[TLuvsD]

I'll add a meatball receipe---I don't actually use a receipe, but this is what I do:

1 lb grd beef
1/2 lb grd pork
2 eggs
bread crumbs
cheese (grated, generally pecarino romanio, but parm should be fine)
parsley (chopped, I cut it up with kitchen sissors)
salt and pepper

Mix the meat together (if you can, get the butcher to grind it together). Add remaining ingredients, mix to blend, but don't over work it.
Heat olive oil in pan, add meatballs. Brown gently, turn with a spoon. When browned, add to sauce and cook a while (I define a while as the time I have avaliable. To my grandmother it was a couple of hours),

If you get in a time crunch: Trader Joe's tomato and basil to the rescue. Brown onion and italian sausage with some garlic in the bottom of the pot. Add sauce and cook for a while (see above). It will be fine.

I'd use penne for the pasta. It's not fussy, holds it's shape and doesn't overcook easily. And it's easy to eat.

 

[BDL]

Contadina does put out the best tomato products. Whenever I go to Costco, I always buy them by the case. Or if I'm making a big meal that day, I buy the industrial can.

But for my secret, I season and brown some lean ground beef (making sure not to drain off all of the fat) and then I add to that, some seasoned and browned ground pork (not straining any of the fat). Mix together, season to taste and then add to your tomato sauce.

I recommend with rotini, angel hair or medium elbows.

And remember... When it comes to tomato sauce, you can never have too much garlic, but Italian Seasoning can be tricky.

 

[Minnesota!]

My recipe is handed down a few generations, too. I love it!


1 large can of tomato juice
1 12oz can of tomato paste
1 can of tomato soup
2 tablespoons of Italian Seasonings
½ teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of celery salt
Sliced pepperoni
1 bay leaf
½ cup of parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes to taste

Mix the juice, paste and soup. When it starts simmering, add the spices except for the pepperoni and cheese.
After one hour, add the cheese. (you should be stirring every 10 minutes)
After another hour, add the pepperoni. (still stirring every 10 minutes)
Let simmer for about 5 hours, stirring about every 10 minutes.
Take the cover off for the last hour, and add your meatballs. Brown the meatballs in a frying pan first, to get rid of some of the grease.

 

[Halle]

My Italian Mom's recipe

3 28oz cans whole tomatoes
3 28oz cans tomato puree
garlic entire head chopped
onions 3 small/medium chopped
parsley half a bunc chopped-leaves only
salt and pepper to taste

Chop onions garlic and parsley.
Blend all ingredients in batches in a blender until it is liquified.

Brown sweet/hot sausage, drain.
Brown meatballs in the same pot.
Add tomato mixture bring to a boil and then simmer 3-4 hours stirring occasionally.

Meatball recipe

3 lbs ground chuck
1 small onion finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 cup parsley chopped
salt and pepper to taste
bread crumbs as needed to hold mixture together
3 eggs

make meatballs and brown

 

[disneyfan2kids]

Just wanted to add. Most (IMO) Italians would never put oregano in our gravy. Oregano goes on pizza sauce...not "real" gravy. YMMV.

 

[barbarabini]

Southern Italian (Calabrese) Gravy

Olive oil
garlic, saute.
2 cans of tomato puree (san marzano is the best) but you can sub.
red wine, a little salt, a little pepper. Get to a boil,

then add the meat - hot sausage (uncooked), meatballs (uncooked). bracciole and neck bones.
Simmer for 2 hours or so.

The meatball recipe.
Ground pork beef and veal, italian season bread crumbs, generous heaping spoons of grated parmesean cheese, 2 eggs. Mix well and form into meatballs, put into sauce and cook for 2 hours.

 

[a1tinkfans]

you guys are all making me Hungry

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I have an onion allergy so I have never been able to eat any of the jarred or prepared sauces.

I make an easy gravy style sauce - 1 can of Hunt's tomato sauce and 1 can of Del Monte chopped tomatoes with garlic and olive oil. Heat and stir. It is simple but surprisingly delicious!

 

[DebMcDonald]

Thank you all so very very much!

I think my daughter's pasta night, might just turn out great now.

I love how you can turn to this board for everything and anything and everyone is always there is help. Thanks!!

 

[fallcolors]

What about a pre-packaged Lasagna .... like Sam's Club, Cosco or Gordon Foods. Would be alot easier and most kids love it. You can also purchase a couple different kinds of Lasagna.

 

[clh2]

OP - how many people are you feeding? I successfully fed a high school girls cross country team a pasta dinner at the beginning of September! The team was 50 girls, but only 46 plus the 2 coaches came over for the pasta party. I took very good notes of how much food I used/wasted etc, and what i would do differently next time!

Personally - I would not do homemade meatballs. Just get some frozen italian meatballs instead! If the girls were any indication - the come...they eat...they eat...they eat! They are not expecting a fine-dining experience And - as my DD said - just don't run out of pasta, and it will all be good!

And - I now own a Nesco roaster...that thing rocks. (I borrowed one from a neighbor that night.) But - you may want to secure a nesco roaster or a couple of crock pots in advance of you big event.

Anyways - here is a great sauce recipe (and the accompanying meatball recipe - again - I used an 8 pound bag of meatballs for a "4" batch of sauce, and then I left 2 batches of sauce with no meatballs.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Sauce:
3/4 C chopped onion (I use the frozed already chopped onions)
3 T. oil
2 1-lb cans tomatoes (4 cups)
2 6-oz cans (1-1/3 cups) tomato paste
1 T. sugar
1-1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 bay leaf
1-1/2 t. oregano
2 tsp of dried basil
1 cup water

Cooked chopped onion in hot oil until tender. Add next 7 ingredients, along
with 1 cup water. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf. After mixing and
baking meatballs, add them to sauce and simmer another 30 minutes.



Meatballs:
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs
2 T. chopped parsley (or 2 t. dried parsley)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. crushed oregano
1 t. salt
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ingredients together thoroughly. Form into
1-inch balls. Bake in broiler pan for 20 minutes. Add to sauce.

I used 2 of the "really big 102 oz cans" to make 6 batches of the sauce.

If you need any tips on cooking large amounts of pasta - let me know! I've got this down too!

Good Luck!

 

[hambirg]

This is a recipe I got from an Italian guy I used to work with. . .and it's spaghetti feed size. He would make it for the football team. It's soooo good.

5-29 to 30oz cans of tomato sauce
4Tbls ground oregano
4Tbls garlic powder
1/4 C sugar
4Tbls onion flakes (but I use real chopped onion)
1tsp black pepper
2lbs beef stew meat
2lbs sliced polish sausage

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Allow 3-4 hours cooking time.

I also wanted to add that when my kids were in private school, the mom that always did the spaghetti feeds would just buy the sauce from Costco. I believe it was Contadina, but it comes in a big commercial size can and cost about $4 (or it used to). It was actually good, and certainly fine and easy for a spaghetti dinner. She also just bought frozen meatballs there too.

 

[SalandJeff]

Yum! Nothing better than homemade sauce. I usually make a really large pot of sauce so I can freeze for several meals.

Saute 4 cloves minced garlic and 3 cans Contadina paste in olive oil.
Add 3 cans of water (use the paste cans).
Add 4 cans Contadina tomato sauce
Add 4 cans Contadina stewed tomatoes (I chop them up first)
Add chopped onion, basil, parsley, oregano, pinch of red pepper.
I usually add strips of bell pepper as well.

Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for hours.

If I am adding meatballs, I don't fry them first - just put in the sauce and let them cook in there. Sausage gets fried first, then added to sauce. But I agree with the person who said to use frozen meatballs for the kids.

 

[mjkacmom]

My recipe is handed down a few generations, too. I love it!


1 large can of tomato juice
1 12oz can of tomato paste
1 can of tomato soup
2 tablespoons of Italian Seasonings
½ teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of celery salt
Sliced pepperoni
1 bay leaf
½ cup of parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes to taste

Mix the juice, paste and soup. When it starts simmering, add the spices except for the pepperoni and cheese.
After one hour, add the cheese. (you should be stirring every 10 minutes)
After another hour, add the pepperoni. (still stirring every 10 minutes)
Let simmer for about 5 hours, stirring about every 10 minutes.
Take the cover off for the last hour, and add your meatballs. Brown the meatballs in a frying pan first, to get rid of some of the grease.

I'm sure it's tasty, but living in a very Italian area, I have never heard of gravy with celery salt, chili powder, pepperoni, tomato juice, or tomato soup!

 

[monorailsilver]

My recipe for gravy & yes we call it gravy:

I use tuturosa crushed sauce (miss my grandma making it from scratch & crushing her own tomatos).

I add a tiny bit of EVOO to the bottom of the pot, at some chopped garlic, basil, oregano & parsley & add the tuturossa. I let it come to a boil & then let it simmer for a few hours.

My grandmother used to add a raisin in her meatballs to sweeten the sauce. Sometimes she'd add sugar & I tried it but it never made a difference in taste to me but what do I know!

Meatballs-

ground beef, like a pound, an egg, bread crumbs (I use ritz crackers lately vs bread crumbs since my ds is allergic to milk & I can't always find dairy free bread crumbs), garlic & basil. I add some water to it too.

Mix it all up & roll it in water-my mom told me that because it makes them more moist. She also adds some parmesian to it but I can't because of the milk thing.

 

[Shleedogg]

Just wanted to add. Most (IMO) Italians would never put oregano in our gravy. Oregano goes on pizza sauce...not "real" gravy. YMMV.

Maybe in your area? I'm Italian, my dad, my grandma, my aunt, all 100% Italian heritage and they put oregano in their sauce. Maybe it's different by Italian regions? My family is from Sicily.

 

[Happiest mommy]

These recipes all sound yummy any idea how to make it for a family of 4

 

[sunshine74]

These recipes all sound yummy any idea how to make it for a family of 4

I always make a big batch and freeze in smaller containers the size I'd want for one meal. It's great to have in the freezer for an easy weeknight meal! Just cook up some pasta and you're done!

 

[MandM-Mom]

I use fresh Tomatoes and fresh basil. Its just an estimate because I don'[t use recipes when I cook just a little of this and a little of that.

Aprox. 10 Vine Ripened Tomatoes peeled
3-4 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 sweet onion diced
6-8 large garlic cloves Very thinly sliced
8-10 Fresh Basil Leaves (torn)
small can of tomato paste
Salt to Taste

Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for 1 min then drop in Cold water bath so skin peels off easily, remove core.

Heat Olive oil on med-high heat add onion saute till almost translucent, add garlic saute with onions till onions are completely translucent. Add onions garlic tomatoes to crockpot on high add torn basil and as crockpot warms up crush with potato masher, every so often go back and crush some more, as sauce cooks down keep mashing till the consistency you like, add 1-2 samll cans of paste to thicken, Kosher salt to taste. If tomatoes are out of season you may need a tad bit of sugar.

 

[dawson5]

Maybe in your area? I'm Italian, my dad, my grandma, my aunt, all 100% Italian heritage and they put oregano in their sauce. Maybe it's different by Italian regions? My family is from Sicily.

My mom's side is northern, in the mountains, Genoa. My dad's side is from the southern most tip of the boot, name escapes me. Both use oregano.