Several years ago when I set out to make the perfect red sauce—or Sunday gravy, which it’s often called—I knew exactly where to look. That was to my good friend Steve Quattrucci. His family has long held sway in Portland food circles amongst the Italian-American community. Or as Quattrucci relates, “Memories from my childhood are filled with smells and scenes from busy kitchens and tables full of the most delicious food you can imagine.”
In the late 1930s, for instance, his grandparents, Tessie (aka Nana Q) and Guy Quattrucci, operated the popular Balboa Café on India Street. The block where the restaurant stood was torn down in the 1950s to make way for Jordan’s Meats—later razed for today’s Hampton Inn.
“The restaurant,” Quattrucci recalls, “was known for two things: the coldest beer in Portland and the best home-style Italian food. By eleven in the morning the longshoremen would line up to have dishes like pasta fagioli, stuffed squids in tomato sauce, cavatelli, meatballs and bracciole.”
In the 1970s Steve’s parents, Ray and Marie, owned Quattrucci Market on Munjoy Hill, or as Steve describes it, “The working class Rosemont Market of its day.
The young Quattrucci also made significant contributions to the Portland food and dining scene. He founded Back Bay Grill in the late 80s and after selling it to Joel Freund (who later sold it to its long-time chef, Larry Matthews), he started the West End Deli, which he ran for a number of years, offering prepared farm-to–table comfort food.
I had asked a few other Italian-American friends in Portland for their heritage red-sauce recipes. I tried a few but none were distinctive.
The Quattrucci dish is Italian-American cooking at its best. It’s a simple devise using Italian sausage, cuts of beef or pork, garlic and garlic powder and salt, canned crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. The cans of tomatoes are washed out with water to give the sauce its base from which to simmer slowly and reduce for several hours until the sauce has a velvety consistency. One unique step in the process occurs when adding the tomato paste, which is simmered in the pot for 10 to 20 minutes until it concentrates even more.
Sausage and pork shoulder or ribs fortify the sauve
The meatballs are a mix of ground pork and beef. When I first made them I substituted homemade breadcrumbs instead of the Progresso brand Italian bread crumbs specified in the recipe.
Quattrucci tasted my meatballs and pronounced them dry and uninteresting. He asked me what I put into the meat mixture and I told him that I used fresh bread crumbs. That was my mistake. While I prefer using nonprocessed ingredients, the use of the commercial Progresso crumbs really made a difference.
Sunday gravy with meatballs over pappardelle
The sauce and meats make for a huge serving, which can serve double duty. Serve it initially as a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs; and with leftover sauce you have the ready-made meat sauce for a great lasagna made with sheets of fresh lasagna noodles, ricotta, grated pecorino and mozzarella.
Lasagna. To prepare the lasagna with leftover sauce, ladle a thin amount of sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish. Add a fresh lasagna sheet (available at both Hannaford or Whole Foods) lengthwise; layer with sauce, cutting up the meatballs into thin slices. Spread drained ricotta (let sit in cheesecloth for 2 hours before using to drain the liquid) mixed with beaten eggs over meat sauce. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella and freshly grated pecorino. Continue layering (alternating the direction of the pasta), ending with the sauce topped with grated Parmesan and slices of mozzarella on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned, cheese melted and the sauce is bubbling. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Lasagna made with the Sunday gravy, meats and cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, cut into large chunks
- 2 pounds beef short ribs or country-style pork ribs, cut into large pieces
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 6-ounce cans tomato paste (reserve cans) or 1 12-ounce can
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes (reserve cans)
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup Progresso Italian Style breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Sauce.In a large Dutch oven heat the olive oil over high heat. Brown the sausage and the pork ribs over medium-high heat; don’t crowd the pan and do it in batches, if necessary so meats brown well and evenly.
- When the meat is browned on both sides, move to the side of the pan and lower the heat to medium low. Add the tomato paste. Mash the paste down with a fork so it’s a thin layer on the bottom of the pan and add the black pepper, garlic salt and powder and minced garlic. Simmer the paste for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure that the paste does not burn.
- Add the crush tomatoes. Stir to combine. Rinse down the sides of the crushed tomato cans adding about 1 4/ to 1/3 can of water to each can and add to sauce. Rinse down the sides of the cans of tomato paste by filling each to the top with water and then add to the pot. Stir well until the sauce and meats are combined.
- Bring to a slow boil and then immediately lower the heat and simmer very gently for 3 to 4 hours, partially covered. Periodically check the pot, stirring the sauce and adjusting the heat, if necessary. Simmer until the sauce is thick but still creamy, about 3 to 4 hours. If it gets too thick, add small increments of water. Let the sauce cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight. Reheat the sauce very gently over low heat, adding water if it’s too thick.
- Meatballs. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the meats using your hands, squeezing through your fingers to combine the meats thoroughly. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic, black pepper, salt, Parmesan and chopped parsley. Mix together with your hands, squeezing through your fingers. Form into 2- inch balls and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the meatballs are browned but not crusty. Drain on paper towels and add to the simmering sauce. Cook in the sauce for the last 45 minutes of simmering the sauce, adding small amounts of water if the sauce gets too thick. Serve over pasta of your choice such as pappardelle.
