A simple marinara sauce recipe & sunday gravy
 

A simple marinara sauce is always nice on a lighter pasta such as angel hair , whereas the "SUNDAY GRAVY" below is what we grew up on, both in New Jersey & in New York City......& was still called by that name on Staten Island, N.Y. by my 84 year old cousin who recently passed away.



Simple Marinara Sauce

1 -# 10 can whole tomatoes (San Marzano or Cento....)

1/4 cup fresh parsley (Italian flat leaf) finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil finely chopped

1 small can of tomato paste

2 tablespoons of salt

6 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon pepper

1 large onion , finely chopped

1/8 cup red wine

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Preparation

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil

Add tomatoes and paste.

Allow it to come to a simmer.

Add the basil and parsley

Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, then add the red wine, salt and pepper.

Let the sauce simmer for another 30 minutes. Makes 10 cups.

You can puree the sauce with a hand held mixer or puree in a blender......or not.


　
Sunday Gravy
4 pounds plum tomatoes , nice ripe ones

1 large can tomato paste (18 ounces)

1 large can crushed tomatoes (29 ounces) (San Marzano, Cento or Contadina)

2 pounds Italian sausage hot or sweet

2 pounds pork neck bones (or pork spare ribs)

2 pounds of meatballs

2 pounds pork tender loin (we always had Bracciole beef rolls in our gravy)

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

4 big cloves garlic

Crushed red pepper to taste

One tablespoon oregano

Small bunch of fresh parsley
Preparation

In a very large stock pot add olive oil and brown all your meat.

Remove the meat .......

Add garlic to the pot with the tomato paste and brown.

OUR FAMILY ALWAYS BROWNED THE GARLIC IN WITH THE TOMATO PASTE MUST BE SOUTHERN ITALIAN STYLE.......

Add tomato sauce with 5 cans of water, plum tomatoes and heat to boil.

Add oregano, chopped parsley, crushed red pepper to desired hotness, salt & pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil and reduce flame to low.

Add the meat back to pot and cook for about four hours. *********

Serve gravy with meat over your favorite pasta, ravioli, manicotti or what ever you desire.

My father's Italian family always called it gravy, we never called it sauce.
Sauce is marinara. This is SUNDAY GRAVY.

Makes approximately 12 servings.

IN LITTLE ITALY NEW YORK CITY BACK IN THE 1940'S & 1950'S THIS IS THE SUNDAY GRAVY ONE WOULD FIND IRRESISTABLE AS THE SMELL WAFTED THROUGH THE TENEMENTS plus THE HOMES OF ALL THE OLD ITALIAN GRANDMAS MAKING THE SUNDAY GRAVY FOR AFTER SUNDAY MASS AT CHURCH ............

MY FAMILY ALWAYS HAD BEEF BRACCIOLE (ROLLS TIED WITH STRING) ALSO IN THE SUNDAY GRAVY...... BUT THAT WOULD TAKE MORE WORK PLUS ANOTHER RECIPE. I ALWAYS LOVED THEM .

CONTINUED TO MAKE THEM WHILE RAISING OUR FAMILY.

AS KIDS WE ALWAYS CALLED IT GRAVY, JUST LIKE THE ELDERS..

THE PASTA WAS NOT PASTA...........IN THOSE DAYS IT WAS JUST MACARONI........NO MATTER WHAT FORM IT TOOK.

SUNDAY WAS ALWAYS A DAY OF REST...........AS NO STORES WERE OPEN. NO SHOPPING, ETC..........

JUST SUNDAY MASS, then SUNDAY DINNER WITH SUNDAY GRAVY.......

I KNOW MANY OF YOU HAVE THE SAME OR SIMILAR MEMORIES.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS.......

　

This brought back many memories, thanks for the great recipes! I am not Italian nor was I raised in an Italian neighborhood but for many years dated an Italian guy and his Momma would make all you spoke of every Sunday! OMG so good. I learned a lot from her but never had her recipe for her Gravy as she didn't use one so I am looking forward to trying this! I do make a mean stuffed artichoke though....LOL but those are pretty simple :) Thanks again!

I swear Senior Citizen, you should write a book. I have enjoyed so many of your recipes. :icon_hungry:

"AS KIDS WE ALWAYS CALLED IT GRAVY, JUST LIKE THE ELDERS."

Ditto in The Bronx. And the wine that was added was always home made.

Love the recipe, but I have a ? Do you cut the plum tomatoes and seed them, peel them, or throw them in whole? Thanks.

Where can you buy the thin sliced beef for the bracciole around here. I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

Yes, my uncle Vito made the wine. It had no sulfites in it back then.
Just plain grapes. They grew their own grapes as well.

They all lived to a ripe old age with no cancer in that family. Just lots of good old fashioned cooking "from the heart".

We also had family in "The Bronx".

None of them used recipes
 

None of mine used recipes either. Just from memory.

They would also roll out the pasta (macaroni) dough on the dining room table. That was also made from scratch.

When I was a young married, my Godmother (the baby of the family who had always helped her big sisters help their mother) wrote out, based on her memory of the time , what she remembers going into the pot.
It was a ritual after all........so she saw it every Sunday.

Growing up, we lived in a blended neighborhood in New Jersey along with those of German, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian, etc., etc. ethnicity.......but there were a few Italian families, whom I recall, especially the family next door to us..............my little friend's mom had to feed FIVE BIG SONS plus the father & the little girl.........I do remember her Sunday Gravy, but especially how they continued to eat it all week long (along with other things she cooked for supper......like roasts, chops, etc.).

By mid week there was VERY LITTLE MEAT LEFT IN THAT BIG POT.
She also packed lunch for SIX MEN each morning as they owned their own home improvement business (carpenters)........she made from scratch things like Eggplant Parm, Chicken Parm, Sausage, onions & peppers, etc., etc. all to go on huge Italian bread sandwiches...for their lunch boxes.

Italian men never went hungry, that's for sure.

As I also recall, myself plus other little girlfriends thought they took FORVER TO EAT their supper ........then little Mary had to sweep up all the crumbs from under the table..........before we could all play again.

Our suppers went quicker, as we had smaller families..........so we would sit on her back enclosed porch while they all finished eating............that was also back in the day of the butcher shops, so I would often accompany little Mary to get her mom's meat order for the Sunday gravy!!!!

My father was Italian....... both he & my Ukrainian mom made delicious sauce/gravy as well........but we didn't eat it all week long........we also made roasts & other things for Sunday dinner..........while my dad's Italian family continued on & on with the Sunday Gravy tradition.

I would love to have your stuffed artichoke recipe......I've never made that. Thanks in advance.

I'm trying to digitilize all of my old old recipes
 

I've been trying to digitalize all of my old recipes which have been kept on index cards in recipe boxes over the years.....plus just typed up & stashed in file folders..........when I come across a really nostalgic one, I like to share it.

Pound the thin round steak or flank steak with meat mallet
 

I always bought thinly sliced round steak or flank steak.
Not sure what they call it in Florida.

I would "pound it" with a meat mallet....that thins it out & stretches it out which makes it easier to place the "filling" on & then roll it up.

It's one of the first things I attempted to "cook" for my Polish hubby when we were married in 1965. I never cooked at home; my parents did it all.

Back then, a good cookbook.........or recipes from my Italian aunts or Polish mother in law...was how I learned.

Some people use string to tie them up......others use toothpicks.
We used white string.

When I get to my old recipe, I'll post it...........however, if my memory is correct, I used round steak or flank steak.

p.s.
An interesting story.........twelve years ago when I was deeply into my genealogy........I made a lot of cousin connections from Laurenzana, Basilicata Potenza Italy..........thanks to ancestry.com & the simple fact that all of these folks were looking for their roots at the same time.

It was a small mountain village in southern Italy.........but their descendants are now all over the United States, Canada, Australia, etc., etc.........even Argentina.

Long story short, I was befriended by many fellow "searchers".........however, one elderly gent was so sweet & kind, he even sent me the book he had written about his father's family in Laurenzana..........over the years (before he died) (he had been the head librarian/director of a big city library in Ohio)........he shared with me some of his family's recipes........ We were both amazed how similar they were.

He was living in an assisted living place at the time, in West Lake Ohio, but when he got tired of the "fare" in the dining room, he would whip up a little nostalgia in his apartment kitchenette. We shared many food "connections" via email.........he also gave me his entire family tree.

We were cousins many times over.

Coincidentally.......we both fried the garlic in with the tomato paste & a little olive oil, prior to beginning our sauce/gravy.

His BRACCIOLE was exactly how my father made his (based on how my Italian grandmother made hers).........& how my mom learned to also make hers.........(other regions of Italy or Sicily put various different fillings in their bracciole meat rolls).

He also knew what Saint Joseph's spaghetti was.....my father's name day dish.

It's really a very small world after all............I miss him; he was a sweet gentle highly intelligent gentleman.........never to be forgotten.

It seems to be prevalent in downstate New York New Jersey and possibly Boston area but its wrong wrong wrong. Gravy is brown its called sauce you can further use descriptors such as meat sauce , pasta sauce, etc but its sauce:D

They usually pop & split while in the hot sauce
 

They usually pop & split while in the hot sauce/gravy......but you can cut them if you wish........


Obviously, they used them from their own roof top gardens or back yard gardens while "in season"......like the Roma tomatoes......plum tomatoes, small variety.


In the winter season, they used the canned tomatoes........so either way, or with both is still good............or just skip the fresh tomatoes.


JUST NEVER NEVER USE AMERICAN CANNED TOMATOES OR TOMATO SAUCE TO MAKE ITALIAN RECIPES.......


NOT/nada for Hunts brand nor Delmonte, etc. nor any store brand.


Nothing compares to SAN MARZANO.....CENTO....CONTADINA or any of the other Italian brands. WHOLE TOMATOES or CRUSHED TOMATOES.

FRESH TOMATOES if you wish. If not it will still be fine.

P.S. FRESH BASIL is always a great addition.......BUT DRIED IS ALSO O.K.

Great stories here. You sound like someone on Food Network. They tell the story as they are cooking...

HERE IS THE RECIPE FOR BRACIOLE (Brazol)
 

BRACIOLE ITALIAN MEAT ROLLS (Can use flank steak or round steak)


NEED: BUTCHER'S TWINE; DO NOT USE SEWING THREAD

OPTION: CAN USE TOOTHPICKS TO HOLD THE ROLLS TOGETHER

PRONOUNCED: BRAZOL with a long "O" sound

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried Italian-style bread crumbs (such as Progresso flavored, although the oldtimers used plain bread soaked in water)

1 garlic clove, minced .........or more.

2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/3 cup grated provolone (optional) (some folks add raisins & pine nuts also) Some like to add Italian Prosciutto (ham); others like hard boiled eggs, chopped.

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

4 tablespoons olive oil (DIVIDED)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (1 1/2-pound) Flank steak or Round steak (I prefer the Flank Steak)

1 cup red wine

YOUR FAVORITE SUNDAY GRAVY.......(or add to marinara sauce).

If adding to the Sunday Gravy with the rest of the meats.......PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU BROWNED THE BRACIOLE FIRST, AS PER BELOW.


Stir the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl to blend. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the oil. Season mixture with salt and pepper and set aside.

Lay the flank steak flat on the work surface.

Cover steak with plastic wrap, and then pound the steak with a kitchen mallet or a hammer until is is about 1/4 of a inch thick.

Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly over the steak to cover the top evenly.

Starting at 1 short end, roll up the steak as for a jelly roll to enclose the filling completely.

Using butcher's twine, tie the steak roll to secure. Sprinkle the braciole with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the braciole and cook until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes.

Add the wine to the pan and bring to a boil. Can use white wine if that's what you have.

Place the braciole meat rolls into your favorite SUNDAY GRAVY......or just put it into your regular "pasta sauce".......it takes two hours or more to become fork tender.............even three hours on low.

Remove the braciole from the gravy/sauce. Using a large sharp knife, cut the braciole crosswise and diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Transfer the slices to plates. Spoon the sauce over and serve with pasta.

Fresh Market on 466. Made them this past Christmas. Butcher knows what they are and how to cut the meat.

Put a few in my freezer.....that reminds me.....tomorrow is Sunday....think I will make gravy!

Yes, it's a lower Manhattan, northern New Jersey thing
 

Yes, no doubt about it, that it is a lower Manhattan, northern New Jersey thing.........our immigrants came from southern Italy via Naples. Small mountain village of Laurenzana Basilicata Potenza Italia.
They came over in 1890 & prior.

So, this is not a modern present day terminology.

My own childhood memories are from the 1940's & 1950's.

By the time the 1960's came about, my generation were all calling it "sauce".........while my father was still calling I "gravy".

But marinara sauce was always sauce......Sunday Gravy was always "gravy".......probably because it had tons of meat in it.

Would I lie? Even Frank Sinatra called it Sunday Gravy.
Tony Bennett, etc. who supposedly is a close paisano.

ALSO, I HAVE HEARD THAT TONY SOPRANO & CARMELA SOPRANO CALLED IT "SUNDAY GRAVY".......yikes.

I for one, am not going to argue with them.......or their crew.

Actually, we had family in Caldwell, New Jersey & they also called it Sunday Gravy.......just like Tony & Carmela Soprano, fictional characters living in Caldwell. N.J.

Soprano's Sunday Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce)

Prep Time:15 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 15 mins Yield:8 cups

Ingredients

For the Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb meaty pork neck bones or 1 lb pork spareribs
1 lb veal stew meat or 2 veal shoulder chops
1 lb Italian sausage
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 (28 ounce) cans peeled Italian tomatoes
2 cups water
6 leaves fresh basil, torn into small pieces

For the Meatballs
1 lb ground beef ( or combination of beef or pork)
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 cup freshly grated romano cheese or 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

To Serve
1 lb pasta shells or 1 lb rigatoni pasta, cooked and hot

freshly grated romano cheese or parmesan cheese

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat.
Pat the pork dry and put the pieces in the pot.Cook turning occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned on all sides.Transfer pork to a plate.

Brown the veal in the same way and add it to the plate.

Place the sausages in the pot and brown on all sides.

Set the sausages aside with the pork.

Drain off most of the fat from the pot.

Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes or until golden.

Remove and discard the garlic.

Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.

With a food mill (I use a Braun hand blender) puree the tomatoes, with their juice into the pot.

Or for a chunkier sauce, just chop up the tomatoes and add them.

Add the water; and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pork, veal, sausages, and basil and bring the sauce to a simmer.

Partially cover the pot and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours.

If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little more water.

Meanwhile, make the meatballs: Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a large bowl.
Mix together thoroughly.

Rinse your hands with cool water and lightly shape the mixture into 2 inch balls.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet.

Directions

Add the meatballs and brown them well on all sides.They will finish cooking in the sauce.

Transfer the meatballs to a plate.

After the sauce has cooked for its two hours, add the meatballs and cook for 30 minutes or until the sauce is thick and the meats are very tender.

To serve, remove the meats from the sauce and set aside.

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Serve the meats as a second course, or reserve them for another day.
　
　
　

Mangia mangia. Enjoy your gravy.


Actually, with the new snow we are having yet again, that Sunday Gravy sounds like a good idea.....except for the fact that all of those meats would feed an army.........think I'll wait until the next time all of the kids & grandkids come home at the same time........but great memories nonetheless. Maybe I'll just make some with the braciole in it. As a child, that was my favorite meat in the "gravy".......introduced my hubby to it & it was frequently requested while raising our family........


I've also made German "rouladen" which are also meat rolls, just stuffed jelly roll fashion with other ingredients..........love them too.

Here's a good one
 

SINATRA SUNDAY SAUCE GRAVY | Ny FOODIE

PLEASE KEEP SCROLLING ALL THE WAY DOWN........GREAT "BLAST FROM THE PAST".

SINATRA SUNDAY SAUCE GRAVY

One of the most famed movie scenes says gravy
 

SUNDAY SAUCE - When Italian Americans Cook: Secret Italian Recipes & Favorite Dishes .. Italian Cookbook with Clemenza Spaghetti & Meatballs Sunday Sauce Godfather Gravy [Kindle Edition] Daniel Bellino-Zwicke

"Come here kid, lem-me show you something. You never know when you're gonna have to cook for 20 guys some day. "Pete Clemenza says to Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in Francis Ford Coppola"s The Godfather.

it's one of the most famed movie scenes in history and of great importance to Italian-Americans.

Clemenza is making "Gravy" aka Sunday Sauce, the Supreme Dish of Italian-America, and the dish that brings Italian Families together each and every Sunday.

GO TO AMAZON.COM..........IT HAS A PHOTO OF THE BOOK WITH RECIPES SUCH AS "GABAGOOL", "PASTA FAZOOL" etc.

Translation: Cappacola (ham), Beans with Macaroni

But in the book they are MAKING SUNDAY SAUCE/GRAVY.

IN THE MOVIE THE GODFATHER, THEY REFER TO THE SUNDAY GRAVY.

IT'S GRAVY WHEN THERE ARE MEATS IN IT......LIKE ON SUNDAY.

Sunday gravy in a jar of all things
 

IT'S OUT THERE...........FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN THIS, BUT IT IS AVAILABLE IN A JAR........

Sunday Gravy

by Good Fella Henry Hills

AS SEEN ON AMAZON.COM .......SUNDAY GRAVY IN A JAR !!!!

•As made famous in the helicopter scene of Goodfellas, just like 'Good Fella' Henry Hill made at home (and prison!)

•An Italian tradition, our Sunday Gravy is simmered low and slow

•Razor-thin garlic sautéed in olive oil until just right. Fresh tomato puree, diced onion, red wine, and hand-minced herbs and spices

•Heat and add to your favorite pasta for an authentic American-Italian treat

•Great with beef, chicken, or seafood

It was never gravy in my family, always sauce, no matter the day of the week. BTW, the recipe for Marinara Sauce looks wonderful, and is going into my recipe book. Thank you so much!

You are very welcome
 

You are very welcome. What is nice about it: it has low sodium compared to jarred versions......but the flavor is still there, naturally.

No doubt you are a lot younger than I am......again, my memories are from the 1940's & 1950's. By time the 1960's arrived, we twenty somethings were also calling it "sauce" while the elders still called it gravy......& "macaroni"........while we began calling it pasta.

Long long time ago........however, as we can see by the "movies**"
circa the "turn of the century" plus even later, in "Little Italy" "Lower Manhattan" & beyond...........they also called it "gravy".

**The Godfather
**Goodfellas

No doubt it is "generational" as well as regional.

I must remember that we, at age 70 or approaching 70, are NOT the typical age of folks in THE VILLAGES.......who are much younger, in their 40's & 50's. We never realized that initially.
Now we know. Early retirees. My husband didn't retire till age 66.