Many parts of Italy celebrate the Sunday family meal with pasta and sauce. That sauce is usually tomato sauce or the famous Bolognese. There is another meat sauce, not as famous around the world, but surely very famous across Italy, that is very popular for Sunday family meals: Ragù alla Napoletana. Honestly, though, this sauce may be more popular than many people would think after they hear the name. In the Italian-American community, it is surely very famous and sparks one of the oldest culinary debates: sauce or gravy?
The Napoletana-style sauce is a bunch of very flavorful (and usually cheap) cuts of meat that are braised in tomato sauce. A majority of people would call that tomato sauce with meat, but others always call it gravy.
It is the Sunday sauce. It is a tradition. It’s the sauce that you smell as soon as you step out of the car parked outside Nonna’s house. The sauce Nonna puts on the stove as soon as she wakes and lets cook for four to five hours inebriating the entire house with its delicious smell.
Obviously, when talking about gravy, we all think of the meat sauce reduction that we usually pour on top of our Thanksgiving turkey or a pile of luscious, mashed potatoes. So, I understand how many people would be enraged when they hear someone call a tomato-based sauce gravy.
To me though, it makes a lot of sense because the sauce is made of meat, and the tomatoes are just an accompaniment, an accessory. So, even if I argued on the other side for a long time, I’ve made peace with myself and now, I do call it Sunday Gravy.
Buon appetito!
Fettuccine with Sunday Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 onion small diced
- 2 carrots small diced
- 2 celery stalks small diced
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
- 1 lb beef shank
- 1.5 lbs short ribs
- 2 lbs pork loin ribs
- ½ liter red wine
- 2 cans whole peeled tomatoes with basil
- EVOO Umbria DOP
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 lb fresh fettuccine
- Fresh Parsley for garnish
- Salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Season all the meat with salt and pepper.
- Sear all the meat in a large saucepan with some olive oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. You may need to do it in a couple of batches.
- Remove the meat and, in the same pan, cook down the vegetables for 10 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the meat back to the pan, turn the heat on high, and add the red wine. Reduce by half.
- Open the canned tomatoes and pour them into a bowl. Crush the tomatoes with your hands and then add them to the meat. Pour 1 cup of water into the bowl, rinse the tomatoes off the sides, and pour into the pot.
- Bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for at least 4 hours until the meat is very tender.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a bowl. Cook the pasta as directed in the package.
- Pour a few ladles of sauce into a large sauté pan. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and sauté for a few minutes on high heat so the pasta can absorb the sauce.
- Plate in a pasta bowl and spoon some meat into every dish. Garnish with Parmigiano Reggiano, fresh basil, and a drizzle of olive oil.
