Spaghetti Sauce (Red Sauce, Red Gravy, Sunday Gravy)
A classic Sicilian/Italian red sauce with all the extras: meatballs, mushrooms, braciole, etc.

Recipe by Paul Mayville

My mother was French-Canadian and she used to make a wonderful, spicy - "Montreal" style spaghetti sauce. However, since I failed to get her recipe before she died I was left to develop my own. But instead of trying to reproduce hers I decided to create a traditional red sauce most people would call spaghetti sauce. In different parts of the country you might also hear it called red gravy or Sunday gravy (an Italian-American friend once told me his "Mamma always makes it on Sunday").

My version of this dish is based on scouring the Internet and reading recipes handed down from one generation to the next. The research was fascinating, and I am quite pleased with the results. The sauce is rich and has a pleasently complex but bright tomato flavor. I think my mother would have liked it too, because my research turned up how to make a spicy "Montreal" style sauce (hint: it only takes one additional ingredient which you can find below).

I offer many optional ingredients here but you probably won't want to add them all to the same sauce. I tried it once, and adding all of the extras made a pretty heavy sauce. In fact, this recipe with all the options will probably feed more than 20 people. Here are some examples of option combinations you can try: ground veal (or beef) and ground pork make a nice meat sauce that works well with mushrooms; just meatballs and sausage are nice by themselves; the braciole is more work and does well on its own. You get the idea.

Be sure to simmer on low for no more than 4 hours. If cooked too long, or at too high a temperature the sauce will turn dark and become bitter tasting. If not too badly overcooked you can cancel out some of the bitterness by adding a teaspoon or two of salt.

Ingredients

• 4 cans whole San Marzano¹ tomatoes (Net Wt. 28 oz. each)
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Optional

• 2 pounds Braciole
• 2 pounds Italian meatballs
• 2 pounds Italian sausage, seared, cooked and drained
• 1 pound ground veal (or beef), browned and drained
• 1 pound ground pork, browned and drained
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 pound small (3/4" diameter) pepperoni sticks², sliced thin

Directions

Add canned tomatoes to a large pot. Using a hand-held blender³, puree tomatoes until smooth. Add red wine, chopped onions, basil, oregano, minced garlic, crushed red pepper, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir well and bring to boil over high heat. When bubbling vigorously reduce heat to simmer. Add chosen optional ingredients now and cook for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionaly.

Taste sauce while simmering and adjust seasoning (sugar, salt and pepper) if needed.

Serves 12 (more when optional ingredients are added)

Notes

1. If San Marzano tomatoes are unavailable you may use any good quality canned whole plum tomatoes as a substitute.
2. Adding pepperoni changes the sauce from Sicilian to Montreal style and also adds considerable spicyness. Pepperoni also contains a good deal of fat which will pool on top of the sauce.
3. If you don't have a hand-held blender use either a food processor or counter-top blender and puree in batches before adding to pot.