Using the sugo

My Parents Homemade Italian Sauce:

I'll never forget the day I burned the sauce. I was maybe 15 years old and was left in charge of the 3.5 hour sauce and of course completely got distracted with a very important teenage phone call (aren't they all important?). Burning the sauce is a faux-pas in every Italian family, especially for mine, since the sauce in my family takes about 3.5 hours to make. Every Sunday, my parents would make this huge pot of tomato sauce to have at a multi-course lunch, then of course lots of leftovers during the week. The whole house would smell of it's delicious aroma. I don't remember a Sunday without it. The sauce is basically a meat sauce and it's main ingredients are braciola (in my case was a beef or pork chunk rolled with pine nuts and tied with cooking string), meatballs and sugo which is a homemade jar of tomato puree. Making this puree was a very important tradition in our lives. In fact I remember many summers when my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins would spend hours just making the sugo. Some 30 bushels of tomatoes that took a whole day to turn into preserved goodness. Such wonderful memories that in itself is an entirely other blog entry, or perhaps a book, but just for a laugh I put a picture of one of the homemade jars I have. Everyone I know in Canada understands this process and the gastronomical benefits are endless. Here is my recipe using the sugo: Caution it takes hours but the results are worth it....

1. Gather your ingredients: olive oil, garlic (whole), I like to buy the ones ready to throw in to the pot (shh don't tell my mother), braciola, sugo: one large jar or 2 small cartons/jar of pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, salt/pepper (you can be creative here and add favorite spices if you'd like)

2. Flavor the oil: heat the oil (about a tablespoon) and drop the garlic clove or cloves (depending on your taste), remove when they are just about to turn brown because you want them whole and not to crumble when you put them back in the sauce.

3. Add the meat and brown on both sides for 10 minutes

4. Now add the small jar of tomato puree to the pot over the meat, stir and heat. Add the garlic back to the pot.

5. Then add the sugo and add water (about the same amount of sugo). At this point you may also add uncooked meatballs, home-made or store bought depending on the time you have. Add herbs and spices.

6. Let cook for 3 to 3.5 hours until the sauce reduces and the meat becomes tender. Add to your favorite pasta and enjoy.

For such a simple recipe, the results are astounding which proves it's about the quality of ingredients and not the amount of chopping and dicing you do. So put the slap chop away and grab a book because you better be around to stir the sauce.

Linda