fresh pasta with red gravy and meat

I saw an episode of No Reservations a couple of weeks ago that took place in Naples. One of the trips that Tony took was to some Grandma's house to eat Sunday dinner. She simmered a pot of meat with tomato sauce all day and served it over pasta. It looked really freaking good. So I tried to recreate it. Here's what you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 short ribs, fat removed, coat with salt and pepper
3 Italian sausages
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup savignon blanc (or some other good white wine)
2 tablespoons oregano
28 oz can/jar high quality crushed tomatoes
28 oz can/jar high quality tomato sauce
2 small cans high quality tomato sauce

I started out with a 2 qt sauce pan, and added the olive oil on medium heat. When the oil was hot, I added the short ribs and sausages. Cook those until they're brown, then remove them from the pan. Add the onion and cook until it is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the oregano and cook for 30 seconds. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until you no longer smell alcohol coming from the pot. Turn down the heat to as low as it will go. Add the meat back to the pot, add the crushed tomatoes and the large can/jar of tomato sauce. Stir and cover. Let the pot simmer all day. The longer it goes, the better it will be. I let mine go for 7 hours. I added two small cans of tomato sauce around hour 6 because it needed more liquid.

I highly recommend making spaghetti with this. The fresher it is, the better it will be. I made mine from scratch and all the flavors together were phenomenal. I served the meat on the side. I also garnished the dish with some fresh Parmesan.

Of course I kicked up the heat on the dish. I used crushed red peppers, though some drizzled habanero olive oil would be good too. Also, note that if you use fresh pasta, take a little less on your plate than usual. I find that it fills you up more than the old dried stuff.

Posted in: