Sunday Gravy Meat

I have wonderful memories as a kid going to my grandmother’s house in the Bronx for Sunday dinner. One giant table would seat all my aunts, uncles and cousins, running through two rooms. My grandmother would make cavatelli, from scratch, for the family. Sometimes we’d get extra dough to play with while she cooked. I wish I had her rolling pin or that giant slab of wood she’d put on her small kitchen table to accommodate all that dough. It was such a labor of love for us!

I made gravy meat with my grandmother a few times before she passed, but we never wrote down a recipe. I know she fried all the meat, but I find baking the meatballs to not only be easier, but just as delicious. We still have pasta every Sunday around 3 in the afternoon, just like I did as kid. And at any point you can find several quarts of it in my freezer, just in case.

Tips:

  • My grandmother would use both hot and sweet sausage. The hot sausage would be cut into about 2" pieces, while the sweet was about 4", so you could tell them apart in the gravy meat.

  • I always save the rinds from the chunk of parmesan in a freezer bag in my freezer. I add them to soups and sauces as needed. You can also buy them at the grocery store. You can stretch the recipe out by adding more tomato to the sauce.

  • Any leftovers can be stored in the freezer for weeks. Just label how many meatballs or sausage are in each container.

  • Any type of pasta works well with this sauce. I guess spaghetti is traditional, but cavatelli or orecchiette would be great too!

Sunday Gravy Meat

Serves 8

PREP 30 minutes

COOK 3 hours

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. each ground beef, pork, veal

1 egg, beaten

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 rack baby back ribs, cut into individual ribs

1 lb. hot and/or sweet Italian sausage

1 large onion, minced

3 carrots, small dice

6-28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes, San Marzano if you can

Rind of Parmesan

1 cup, basil leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  2. In a large mixing bowl add the egg, breadcrumbs and milk. Mix well. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Then add all the ground meat and mix until combined. Don't over mix. 

  3. Form ground meat into golfball size meatballs and place them on a baking sheet. They can touch, since they will shrink in the oven.

  4. Bake the meatballs for about 20 minutes. The outside will get browned, but they may not cook all the way through- don't worry. They will cook in the sauce.

  5. Meanwhile, in a large stock pot, over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the ribs and sausage to the pot. You want to brown all the meat, but not cook it through. Don't overcrowd the pan. You want the meat to brown, not steam. This will take several batches. Just place the browned meat on a platter until you are done. 

  6. Once all the meat is browned add the onions and carrots. Add another pinch of salt. Using a wooden spoon, mix the veggies in the pot and release all those browned pieces of meat from the bottom of the pot. Lower the heat if you need to, so you don't burn the veggies. Cook for about 5 minutes until they get soft. If you haven't gotten up all the browned pieces of meat from the bottom, add a splash of water and that should release it. 

  7. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with all the meat. Fill one of those 28oz. cans with water and add that to the pot too. Add the basil and parmesan rind. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook over a low heat for the next three hours, uncovered. 

  8. The sauce is ready once the meat on the ribs is falling off the bone. If the sauce gets too thick you can add more water or some stock to thin it out. 

  9. Remove the parmesan rind before serving. Adjust taste with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with additional parmesan cheese.

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