Mangia, Mangia!

Mangia, Mangia!
It has been a VERY long time since I had made my grandfathers sauce. In my family its sauce, not gravy and not marinara…just sauce. Being half Italian it has been a staple in my family for generations with this recipe brought from my great grandfather in Gaeta, Italy. It is simply a red tomato sauce. I was taught to cook it with meatballs and pork and sausage. If it was a special occasion my nana would make lasagna and if it was my birthday my mom would make Baked Ziti. I usually do a double recipe of the sauce and freeze it according to what I have in mind for future use (individual servings or entertaining). It takes ALL day to do this. Not so much hands on work but it simmers for hours and the longer it simmers the better it tastes. Since my sister is a vegetarian we have had to adapt the “sauce” over the years to taste OK but without the meat, its not the same, but for you vegetarians its as good as its gonna get!
The ideas are endless on what to do with red sauce. A few ideas…Eggplant parmigiana, Chicken parmigiana, Baked ziti, Lasagna, pizza sauce, or simply put it over pasta. I usually start early in the morning, with coffee in hand and serve it with a traditional pasta dinner in the evening. This can absolutely be made ahead of time and refrigerated and used within 2 days or frozen. I used my electric frying pan to cook the meatballs and my largest stockpot for the sauce, it gets pretty full with all the meat in there.
This past Sunday I decided to make the sauce at the request of some very dear friends. I did traditional Ziti with the sauce, pork, meatballs and sausages. There was garlic bread on hand, Caesar salad for some greenage and of course what’s an Italian meal without dessert…hence Tiramisu (with cooked egg). Again, I have adapted a couple of these recipes from Allrecipes.com. When guests arrive, make the pasta, put the bread in the oven, toss the salad and you are all set!
It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to take pictures of the finished results. A great incentive to make it again soon.
Nana I think I did you proud!
Susan

Sauce

• EVOO
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• Pork country style spareribs (depends on how much your family will eat)
• Sweet Italian sausage
• handful pine nuts
• 1 T chopped parsley
• 2-4 cloves crushed garlic
• Dash crushed hot pepper
• Dash of ground cloves
• 1 can kitchen ready tomatoes (pureed) + 1.5 cans water
• 1 can tomato paste + 1 can water
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
1. Line bottom of pot with oil and heat over medium high.
2. Brown pork and sausage about 15 minutes.
3. Add onion, pepper, pine nuts, parsley, garlic, red pepper, cloves and sauté about 5 minutes on Med Low don’t burn onion and garlic.
4. Add tomatoes and water.
5. When meatballs are done frying add them to the sauce.
6. Simmer sauce on low 5 hours stirring occasionally and making sure bottom of pot isn’t burning.
7. Adjust seasoning

Meatballs
• 1lb lean hamburger meat
• 1 egg beaten
• ½ Cup Italian style breadcrumbs
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• 1 T grated parmesan cheese
• 2 t parsley chopped fine
• Salt
• Pepper
• Water
• EVOO

1. Mix all ingredients except water.
2. Add water until you get a soft consistency but they still form meatballs.
3. Fry in oil on all sides. Drain
4. Add to sauce for several hours.
*Note—because there is water in the meat they will splatter when frying.

Here are a couple of pictures of the consistancy of the cream after the cheese has been added and the ladyfingers in the pan.




Tiramisu
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups mascarpone cheese
• 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream (the colder it is the faster it whips)
• 4 packages soft ladyfingers
• 1/3 cup coffee flavored liqueur
• Cocoa powder for dusting
• Chocolate curls (dark)

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the top of a double boiler, over boiling water. Reduce heat to low, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and whip yolks until thick and lemon colored.
2. Add mascarpone to whipped yolks. Beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into yolk mixture and set aside.
3. Line the bottom and sides of a springform pan or glass square dish. Brush with coffee liqueur. Spoon half of the cream filling over the lady fingers, then dust with cocoa. Repeat ladyfingers, coffee liqueur and filling layers. Garnish with cocoa and chocolate curls. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.
4. To make the chocolate curls, use a vegetable peeler and run it down the edge of the chocolate bar.

Caesar Salad Dressing
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 anchovy fillets in olive oil
• 5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a mini food processor and whirl until smooth. If it is too thick I think it out with hot water. Refrigerate until ready to use.