The Gravy -- A Monfiletto Family Traditional Recipe

My mother and Aunt Ro called it, "The famous, delicious gravy that cooks for 4 hours!"

It would be impossible to manage Monfiletto family recipes before mastering The Gravy.  Yes, it's gravy, not sauce, for our family. I can't tell you how many non-Italians have been confused by this. One friend thought I was referring to some kind of brown meat drippings and pictured a plate of macaroni covered with it. Ugh.

In our case, this is a traditional tomato gravy with three kinds of meat. We serve it over spaghetti, raviolis and macaroni in all its forms. We use it to make lasagna, too.

Since it needs to cook about four hours, you might as well make a big pot of it and freeze the leftovers in smaller containers for future meals. My mother used to make it on Thursdays and save half of it for part of our Sunday dinner -- you know, the first course, the pasta. NB: Gravy tastes even better the second time it's cooked.

Ingredients

Gravy
8 large cans crushed tomatoes (Puree in a blender if you want a smooth gravy)
8 cans tomato paste
8 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 Bay leaf (remove before serving so no one chokes)
Olive oil
Italian sausage, about 12 links
Meatballs
Breast of veal, cut into pieces (optional)

Meatballs: 
3 pounds of chopped beef (or beef and pork mixed)
1 cup of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, softened in milk
1 sausage, squeezed out of its case
3 eggs
3 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons parmesan cheese
3 teaspoons parsley
salt and pepper

How to:
Put 8 cans of crushed or pureed tomatoes in a large pot.  Add six garlic cloves, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Drizzle olive oil over the top.
Bring to simmering over medium heat and then lower to low heat.  Stir occasionally. My mother threw in a carrot or whole potato because she said it absorbed the tomatoes' acidity. (Remove before serving so no one gets a potato instead of a meatball by mistake!)

Meanwhile, make the meatballs by mixing all meatball ingredients with hands until soft and completely combined. Roll into balls with hands. Bake on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet at 350 F until brown, about 15 minutes.  Cook the sausage and the veal, if using, in the oven with the meatballs, until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Back to the gravy:
In a big frying pan, put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan, add the rest of the garlic and start to simmer.  Add all of the tomato paste and stir to combine, bring to simmer and remove from heat. Stir into big pot of tomato sauce.  When meatballs, sausage and veal are browned, add to gravy and simmer for at least 2 more hours, preferably 4. You can add a little of the meat drippings for extra flavor.

Note: You can add or substitute beef short ribs for the meat. Brown first in oven or frying pan and then add to gravy. Simmer 4 hours. We picked up this version during a trip to Naples and Dennis perfected it.

Note 2: This is the real gravy, despite what anyone else in the family says. I learned to make this with both my mother and my grandmother and I'm probably the sister who cooked with both of them more than anyone else.