Sunday Dinner

 

Growing up in an Italian family every Sunday, dinner was macaroni and meatballs in gravy.  Now I know some of you are like "Gravy?!" but I will explain that in a little bit.

On Sunday's growing up, dinner was around 2pm and consisted of a big plate of macaroni and meatballs in gravy.  For my type of Italians macaroni referres to any type of pasta ... spaghetti, penne, penne rigate (referred to as penne in my house), ravioli, cavatelli, rigatoni, or linguine (sometimes referred to as spaghetti in my house).  These were the most common macaroni's eaten in my house, I preferred cavatelli with ricotta on top or ravioli but also like spaghetti or rigatoni.  I don't like penne, it has no ridges so the gravy does not stick as well.  My Mom is big on spaghetti and makes it often, she really needs to be in the mood for another type of pasta to make something else.  Every once and a while she would make cavatelli, rigatoni, or spaghetti in oil and garlic with broccoli (my favorite vegetable), as a change up from macaroni's in gravy.

My Mom's meatballs are the best, but every Italian child says that about their Momma's meatballs.  And if they don't they probably would get hit with the wooden spoon!!!  My Mom makes her meatballs by taste and feel, there is not real recipe, just a list of ingredients that must be included but no actually amounts.  I can't guaranty but I would put money on the fact that most Italians make their meatballs and gravy that way.

Gravy!!!  I said I would get to it.  When you think of  gravy, you think of meat pan drippings to butter and flour to create the widely accepted “brown gravy” pour over mashed potatoes. The offical definition of Gravy is a sauce, made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking.  And that is exactly what our macaroni gravy is, well sorta.

In most of Italy, Sugo, as in Sugo alla Bolognese, (the full and proper name for the meat based sauce Americans matter of factedly refer to as Bolognese at restaurants) is typically known to mean “gravy.”  The word Sugo is derived from succo which means juices and refers to the pan drippings from various cuts of cooked meat. Italians add these drippings along with either pan seared meats such as meatballs, sausage, braciole (thin slices of meat (typically pork, chicken, or beef that is rolled as a roulade with cheese and bread crumbs and fried), and pork to the tomato based sauce.  It is left to simmer for hours until it thickens like a gravy and finally manifests itself into a well balanced meal of meat, meat and more meat that would feed a family of 20 all day.  So looking at the definition of gravy, it is a sauce made with meat and vegetable juices and it is poured over the meat when served.  Same thing, right!

There is a long standing argument between some Italians, Gravy vs Sauce.  In the motherland aka Italy, despite the vast differences among the Italians of different regions, there are two nationally accepted phrases that easily translate to either mean sauce or gravy.  For some born and raised in America, they call it one over the other because of the way they have been raised but there is a try difference between the two.  Gravy is what I explained above and  Sauce or Salsa, in Italian, literally refers to a semi-liquid cooked tomato based sauce that is used as a condiment.  Unlike American condiments like ketchup or mustard that you would never put on macaroni, but similar in that salsa is used to lightly dress a dish.  Traditionally, this is the light, and vibrant marinara sauce Americans have come to slather on everything they deem Italian food in America.  Plain and simple sauce is the tomato part with the meat left out, so a marinara sauce.

My Mom always made sauce with meat in it and called it Gravy and thats what I go with.

To end this post I will leave you with the song "On top of spaghetti" ...

Lyrics to "On top of spaghetti" ...

 

On top of spaghetti,

All covered with cheese,

I lost my poor meatball,

When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,

And on to the floor,

And then my poor meatball,

Rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden,

And under a bush,

And then my poor meatball,

Was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tasty,

As tasty could be,

And then the next summer,

It grew into a tree.

The tree was all covered,

All covered with moss,

And on it grew meatballs,

And tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti,

All covered with cheese,

Hold on to your meatball,

Whenever you sneeze.