This is an East Coast Italian/American tradition for Sunday dinner – you won’t find this in Italy. The meat flavors the sauce so there are not a lot of added spices and herbs in this recipe.
Adding the paste to the onions, after the onions have started to deglaze the bottom of the pot.
A platter of meatballs, sausage links, and pork chops braised in the Sunday Gravy.
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven on the stove top and add the oil; turn to medium high.
Brown your sausage, beef and/or pork chops. You want them very brown, but they don’t need to be cooked through. If making meatballs or braciola you’ll need to make those separately.
Remove the meat and add a little more oil. Reduce heat to medium low.
Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. The moisture from the onions will begin to deglaze the pan.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the tomato paste and stir through, cooking until reddish brown (the fancy term for this is to pincé the paste).
Add the wine, and stir to incorporate with the tomato paste and to deglaze the pan.
Add the tomato sauce and the seasonings and stir through.
Add your browned meats back to the sauce.
You will want to simmer this for 6-8 hours. If cooking braciola, add that for the last 3-4 hours. If cooking meatballs, add that for the last 2-3 hours.
Cook on a very light simmer stirring every 30 minutes or so, just make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom. I prefer to cook this in a 250 degree oven to evenly heat it through.
Prep any salad, bread, antipasti, etc. that you will be serving with dinner.
When getting close to dinner time, cook your pasta to al dente.
Remove the meat to a platter and place into a low oven to keep warm.
When the pasta if done, drain it and return it to the pot. Put two ladles of sauce with the pasta and stir it through, most if not all of the sauce will be absorbed by the pasta.
Put your sauce into a bowl for people to sauce their own plates.
Serve with bread, salad, and grated parmigiana cheese.
