Sunday Gravy

If this is how Italians eat on a Sunday I want to come back as "Tony" in my next life! This was so simple to put together, and everything worked. The meatballs, the sauce, the Italian sausage. I served this over a bed of linguini along with garlic bread. The sauce clung perfectly to every strand of pasta. One of my guests said it was like eating in a little Italian restaraunt in New York. Thank you Richard, for sharing this heritage recipe with us and taking us to the Bronx for one memorable meal!

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I don't know why, but I decided that after almost 20 years of making my mom's recipe, I felt like a change. Made this today, Sunday, for dinner. Simmered longer, but otherwise followed the recipe. It is close to my mom's but not quite it. Her meatballs have parsley and Italian seasoning and she doesn't dredge. These meatballs were good, but I think I am used to hers :) The gravy (or sauce as I call it) was wonderful...again, close to mom's, except this one has no salt or pepper (which I admit I thought was odd, but I didn't add it!) or cheese in it. So, after the novel I just wrote, I still think this is very deserving of 5 stars. The whole family loved it, didn't really notice much of a difference and they are soooo glad there are leftovers! Served over linguine with garlic bread.

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We loved this dish! Simple enough for just the two of us, or elegant enough for entertaining. I served it with linguine, a green salad, and garlic bread. It reminded us of a dish you would be served in a local italian restaurant. The ingredients meshed so well together. No trouble at all to make, and the results are so impressive. Richard has hit the mark again. If you are on the fence with this one, don't regard this as another spaghetti/meatballs dish, it is much more.

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After hearing Richard wax rhapsodic about this recipe in person, and reading all the wonderful reviews (except for Karen's, which was just posted), how could I NOT try this out? In a word: YOWZA! Just a few changes -- after sauteeing the garlic and onions in a saucepan I dumped all the sauce ingredients into my crockpot. I made up the meatballs (without the cheese) and just plopped those right into the sauce, no browning them first. No Italian sausage in the vicinity, so I used some hot Moroccan sausage. I started this all early in the morning, switched the crockpot on low and went off to work, swearing all the time I could smell it cooking across town. About 9 hours later I came home to find 2 Dornettes and various friends drooling in the living room. It was torture waiting for the pasta to cook, but we were well rewarded with the most astounding weeknight dinner we've had in a long time. My vegetarian Dornette practically wept with frustration, but still managed to stick to her principles in spite of the most amazing aroma coming off our dinner table. I've got plans to double, even triple the recipe and keep batches of it in the freezer for those times when I need my fix! I may even take pity on veggie-daughter and make up a batch with soy meat and soy sausage. Yo Richard, you really know what you're talking about!

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Wow Richie this was Magnifico! Made this Sunday for Monday nights dinner allowing the flavors to mend together. Only thing I did differently was add about 1/2 cup of vino. (you know me) and did not add the italian sausage only because my picky family wont eat it. (mental not find new family). lol. This recipe takes a little time but well worth it. This recipe also makes a lot so is great for large gatherings or freezing. Thank you Richard. Now aren't you glad you shared? :0)

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This is a nice one. I used merguez (spicy Moroccan sausage), a little more garlic, and some white cooking wine. My only complaint is that it is a lot more time consuming than my usual (similar) recipe and I didn't detect much of a flavor difference. Regardless, it was very tasty! Thanks Richard.

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Mr. Man! Wonderful, simply wonderful. I crumbled the meat and the Italian sausage up in my sauce as I wanted to use leftovers for lasagna. I used my own dried oregano from this year's garden. Also added twice as much garlic and added fresh basil at the end. We were dunking bread in the pot. Good stuff, can't wait for the lasagna.

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I was curious about "Sunday Gravy" after hearing about it on a TV show. I have no Italian blood in me, but for a family get-together, I decided to try this for fun. Wow! I never thought a spaghetti dinner would be such a hit!! I followed the recipe to the tee (opted for the sweet sausage), just added some fresh chopped basil from my garden and a couple tsp. of sugar (always do with Italian sauces). Served over thin spaghetti with simple sides of garlic bread and salad. Thanks Richard!! I will be adding this to my go-to's for great Italian dishes.

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Hey Rich! I'm a Jersey-American-Italian and make the "gravy" every Sunday like clockwork. Your recipe is similar to mine. I sometimes brown some boneless pork butt cut into chunks for a different flavor. There's nothing like homemade "gravy"! Keep up the tradition.

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This is like HEAVEN for meatlovers like me!!thanx for posting such an awwwesome recipe Richard!Thumbs up to the Italians!

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Very good! The gravy has a very meaty taste to it and I use all the same meats when I make my sauce, Hmm..wonder why? Perhaps it is because I never prebrown my meats, I just throw them in the hot sauce uncooked. I did think the sauce needed some salt to "pull" out the flavors more, but it was just delish!

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Yummo. I made this exactly as described, but I baked my meatballs instead of frying. Absolutely delish. Thanks Richard!

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Excellent recipe. My best friend's grandmother was Sicilian and made this for us whenever we came over to visit her. Tasted just like her authentic sauce. CabinKat, How about you actually follow the recipe as described? You might of liked it better...

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I'm very surprised how many people gave this recipe 5 stars. I don't believe it rates 5 all in all. I thought the sauce was very good, better than I've had. But the meatballs were bland. Tender yes, but really missed on the flavor. I used top of the line sausage and it came out very bland & dry. It could have been the sausage so I won't attribute it to the rating of this recipe. I also had cut up the sausage to bite-size though the recipe doesn't state this. I slow-cooked in crock pot which I think helped the sauce. I may do again just for the sauce but try another recipe for the meatballs. Thanks for posting!

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I made this for dinner last night. I was amazed at how tender the meatballs are! It was a significant amount of work to make but well worth it. Very easy to do, as well, just time consuming. I made a few changes to suit our personal tastes and what I had on hand- a combination of 2/3 beef and 1/3 sausage in the meatballs, diced tomatos instead of chopped, and I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of basil to the sauce. I also used an immersion blender to reduce the chunkyness after removing the meats (purely a preference thing- we like smoother sauces). I'm going to freeze the (lots) of leftovers to enjoy again and again. Thanks for sharing!

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I could eat this every Sunday! What a delicious recipe. Thanks for posting.

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I doubt that you need another 5 stars, but stand back--here they come. This is truly a wonderful "Sunday" Gravy dinner. I simmered longer because I made it 48 hours before serving--the flavors flowed together like a symphony. Love these meatballs! Thanks Richard for posting this fine fine recipe. Bellisimo!

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Very delicious. A bit of a long process, of course, but I greatly appreciated the fact that unlike other "Sunday Gravy" recipes this one did not call for pork neck bones! (yikes.) I halved the recipe, but did it all to the letter, using mild Italian sausage links. We found it very tasty and satisfying served over 1 lb. of angel hair pasta...alas, my teenage son said that it didn't seem all that different (to him) from regular spaghetti sauce. I told him that this *Sunday Gravy* recipe is NOT the same as regular home made spaghetti sauce...right? (I don't know; I need some more education in Italian cuisine.) I added a little cabernet sauvignon to the sauce and a bit of additional salt. Overall this was wonderful, and there's a big bowl leftover (3 of us ate it for dinner tonight) so I can imagine that leftovers will taste fabulous. Thanks for a good Sunday afternoon cooking foray!

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Richard....between you and Mean Chef, you boys certainly keep me looking so good! As far as I'm concerned THIS is the real italian sauce I grew up with down in Jersey...made by the first generation Italians! Only I used a handful of fresh basil instead of the Italian seasoning. Everything else was to the T! I'm keeping this one! Keep the great recipies coming! LA :-)

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Excellent sauce! I prepared this for a late holiday feast with some inlaws and used it in a baked ziti. There was not a speck left in the pan at the end of the evening. I couldn't find small Italian sausages, only larger brat-size ones. After simmering in the water, I sliced these sausages into coins and added to the sauce. I also added about 1/2-3/4 cup red wine while simmering. My house smelled incredible all day. Thanks for making me appear to be an accomplished Italian cook.

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