Sicilian Spaghetti Sauce With Meat



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This sauce is the sauce that my family made every Sunday for dinner. We would start the sauce in the morning and it would cook all day long filling the house with its aroma. For me this is comfort food at its finest. Whenever I make this sauce now and my house fills up with that aroma of seared meat, onions and tomatoes it immediately transports me back in time to when I was a kid. It is a wonderful feeling of nostalgia.

We called it spaghetti sauce with meat or meat sauce and occasionally meat sauce for pasta but we never used the term Sunday gravy, though some of my friends called it Sunday gravy.

Traditional Sicilian Spaghetti Sauce With Meat

Homemade fettucine, spaghetti sauce with meat, Italian meatballs and rosemary bread.Homemade Fettucine, Spaghetti Sauce With Meat, Italian Meatballs And Rosemary Bread
Ingredients for spaghetti sauce with meat: boneless chuck, red onion, fresh sweet basil, and San Marzano tomatoes.

Ingredients for spaghetti sauce with meat: boneless chuck, red onion, fresh sweet basil, and San Marzano tomatoes.

Chopped sweet basil, from one sprig of the basil, and diced onion.

Chopped sweet basil, from one sprig of the basil, and diced onion.

Seared chuck roast on a plate.

Season the chuck with kosher salt and cracked pepper. Add the chuck to the pot and brown both sides, in the olive oil. Remove it to a plate. Set aside.

Sweating onions, garlic, and basil in olive oil.

Add the onions, garlic and the leaves from the sprig of the basil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the onions are translucent, stirring frequently.

Adding the chuck back into the pot on top of the onions.

Add the chuck back into the pot on top of the onions.

Spaghetti sauce with chuck roast.

Pour the tomato puree into the pot on top of the meat. Move the meat around with a wooden spoon to stir. Take the remaining can of tomatoes and break them up by crushing them one tomato at a time in your fist allowing the crushed tomato and juice to escape through your fingers and into the pot. Add the juice to the pot and give it a stir.

Spaghetti sauce with chuck roast.

Bring the sauce to a low boil, reduce the heat  and simmer until the meat is tender, about 3 hours.

Mom's Ragu Recipe

This is an incredibly simple meat sauce for pasta. Basically it has 5 ingredients but the flavor is absolutely amazing.

  • Yield: about 4 quarts / liters
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 3 to 4 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 pound chuck roast, boneless
  • Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
  • Extra Virgin olive oil
  • 3 large sprigs fresh basil, washed and leaves picked
  • 1 large red onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3 cans whole San Marzano tomatoes

Method

  1. Season the chuck with kosher salt and cracked pepper. Set a 12-quart non-reactive stock pot over a medium-high flame and let the pan get hot. Add enough olive oil to generously coat the bottom of the pot. Add the chuck and brown it in the olive oil on both sides. Remove it to a plate. Set aside.
  2. Tear or chop the leaves from one sprig of the basil. Reserve the remaining two sprigs of basil until you are ready to serve the sauce. When you chop basil it is important to use a very sharp knife, otherwise the leaves are going to bruise and blacken on the edges.
  3. Add the onions, garlic and the leaves from the sprig of the basil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the onions are translucent, stirring frequently.
  4. While the onions are sweating puree two of the cans of tomatoes in your blender. Add the tomatoes and the juice from one can to the blender. Process on low to start. Then switch to medium. Then pulse the tomatoes on high for 10 to 15 seconds until you have a smooth puree. Repeat with the second can.
  5. When the onion mixture is done add the chuck back into the pot on top of the onions. Pour the tomato puree into the pot on top of the meat. Move the meat around with a wooden spoon to stir.
  6. Take the remaining can of tomatoes and break them up by crushing them one tomato at a time in your fist allowing the crushed tomato and juice to escape through your fingers and into the pot. Add the juice to the pot and give it a stir. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
  7. Bring the sauce to a low boil, reduce the heat  and simmer until the meat is tender, about 3 hours. As the sauce is cooking occasionally stir it and taste it, adjusting the seasoning as you go.
  8. When the sauce is ready remove the meat to a plate and break it up into chunks using a couple of forks or a fork and tongs. You want it in bite size pieces. When you are done add the meat back into the sauce. Stir it all together then taste and adjust the seasoning one final time.

Notes

  1. When you puree the tomatoes in the blender if you just set it to high and let it rip the puree is going to incorporate a lot of air. That in turn is going to give you an off looking puree that is very white-orange in color.
  2. When you are working with tomatoes it is important not to use tools that are reactive to the acid in them. That's why the wooden spoon.

Continue reading Italian Meatballs.

Tags: spaghetti sauce with meat, ragu recipe, meat sauce for pasta, homemade spaghetti meat sauce, ragu