Rachael Ray's Sunday Gravy and Macaroni (Spaghetti, Really)

This originally was a Rachael Ray recipe with a few modifications from me. Rachael states that she created from her Grandpa Emmanuel whose recipe was an all day event. She wanted to cut it down to 30 minutes. I will tell you that I am pretty sure I couldn't put this recipe together in 30 minutes... More like an hour, but you can cook it longer as I do to get better flavor. Rachael Ray says: “He would toss spaghetti, which he referred to as macaroni in English, with half of the remaining sauce and add lots of cheese to it. The extra sauce would be ladled on top of dinner plates of meat and macaroni. This recipe is all I can do to imitate Sundays with Emmanuel, in 30 minutes." Serve with a crusty loaf of garlic bread to soak in the sauce and you have a great meal! MY COMMENTS: Made as originally written in the recipe there was barely enough sauce for the pound of spaghetti soI increased the amount of sauce. In addition Rachael says it serves 4 Big Servings, but it would have be 4 REALLY big, hungry people as in my family it serves 8 without a problem It is delicious though and this is my version with just SLIGHT changes.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1  lb spaghetti

• Gravy (Sauce)

• 1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, for both meats and sauce
• 4  pork chops (loin chops, thin cut, 1/2-inch thick, each chop cut in 1/2)
•  salt and pepper
• 1⁄2 lb sweet Italian sausage link (2 links)
• 1⁄2-1  teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, for moderate to spicy marinara
• 4  garlic cloves, chopped
• 1  small onion, minced
• 1  cup beef broth
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1  cup water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
• 1⁄4 cup  chopped flat leaf parsley, a couple of handfuls of leaves
• 5 -6  basil leaves, fresh (torn or chopped, a handful)

• Meatballs

• 1  lb  meatloaf mix (ground beef, pork and veal combined, from butcher counter)
• 1  egg
• 2  garlic cloves, chopped
• 1⁄3 cup  grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, 2 handfuls, plus extra for tossing pasta and to pass at table
• 1⁄2 cup  Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, 3 handfuls
•  salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat water for pasta to boil. Salt and cook pasta 7 to 8 minutes, to al dente.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Sauce: Heat a deep skillet or medium heavy bottomed sauce pot over medium high heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Quarter the sausages. Add 1 tablespoon, 1 turn of the pan, extra-virgin olive oil to pan or pot. Place chops in pan or pot and brown 2 minutes on each side, remove. Add another tablespoon oil, 1 turn of the pan, and sausages. Brown sausages 2 minutes on each side and transfer to plate with pork. Add pepper flakes, chopped garlic and onion to the pot and sauté 1 minute - be very careful as the pepper flakes will burn pretty quickly.
4. Add broth to the pan and scrape up drippings. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, water, sugar and herbs and bring sauce to a bubble. Add meats back to the pot and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer sauce until ready to serve, 12 to 15 minutes (this is the spot where you could really simmer the sauce for a couple of hours more or less if you wanted to).
5. Meatballs: Combine ground meat, egg, remaining 2 cloves chopped garlic, 1/3 cup cheese, and bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper and roll into balls, 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Place balls on nonstick cookie sheet. Roast meatballs 10 minutes, then slide into Sunday sauce and turn off oven.
6. To serve, place pork, sausages and meatballs on serving dish. Pour 1/2 of the sauce into a serving dish to ladle over pasta and meats at the table. Toss cooked spaghetti with remaining sauce in sauce pot, adding a few handfuls of grated cheese to the pot as you toss it. Transfer pasta to a serving dish.