Pasta Sundays

 As Sophia Loren is credited for once saying... "I would much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size zero".... I must say like most other women who grew up Italian, I would have to agree. To an outsider, it may seem odd to eat the same meal every Sunday and have the same argument over gravy or sauce week after week (we call it sauce, by the way) but for me this Sunday ritual means family, tradition, and stability. It is such a simple gesture of love to place that salad, large bowl of pasta and garlic bread on the table and is certainly a meal that does not break the bank.

Just like most things in Italian culture, this as well stems from tradition. Ask any Italian and we probably cannot answer where this tradition began.... was it from the necessity to feed large families on a dime? was it from the need to use the abundance of fresh tomatoes grown over the summer in a way that can be preserved for the entire year (many can their own sauce still)? Was it that it paired so well with the wine (even the children were given a thimble of the bitter grape juice at the Sunday meal)?

Regardless of the origins, it has sustained through the generations. I can remember stories from my Grandfather where they were so poor during the depression that they used robin meat to still have meatballs even. Today in modern times we have transferred back to beef but it was still interesting to hear the lengths to which people will go to preserve their traditions even in the hardest of times. Why? Why do we fight so hard to keep the stability of who we are at our souls? It's a stability to maintain our culture, a constant in an every changing world we cannot always control, and a link to bring us back to our roots and our family. 

This Sunday meal also wasn't limited to the women only cooking for once during the week as well. It was my Grandfather who was famous for his sauce. He would start early and the smell would fill his kitchen all day. I can still picture him there with his short stature and a mapine (slang It. for dishtowel) hanging at his waist hitting away any hand trying to dip a slice of Italian bread too soon into his creation. He had many meats in his sauce to add flavor such as Italian sausage and meatballs as well as a slice of capicola, this abundance probably stemmed from the fact he no longer had to slingshot robins in the yard to add meat to his meal. 

I wish I had learned every trick he had in preparing his sauce in the exact same way. There are some tricks I incorporate, such as rolling my meatballs in season salt, but there are also many that are lost. He was gone several years already before I tried my hand at creating my own sauce. This first attempt also came out as a disaster due to the fact that my Dad convinced me a clove of garlic was the whole head! Below is the closest I have come to Grandpa Joe's sauce. I hope you can enjoy the tradition as well. If you make it let me know how it comes out. What traditions do you have?

Grandpa Joe's Sauce ( the modern version)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 lb Italian sausage (rope)

couple slices capicola

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup tomato paste

3- 35 oz cans Italian peeled tomatoes 

2 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

6 fresh basil leaves torn small

Directions:

Heat oil in large stock pot over medium heat. Cut sausage to smaller pieces and cook stirring until browned. Add in capicola to brown as well, will be quicker. Remove the cooked meat and discard about the 1/2 the fat created from cooking.

Add the garlic into oil and left fat until golden then remove garlic leaving the flavor before adding the tomato paste. Puree the tomatoes with their canned juices into the pot. Add the water, salt, pepper, and basil and bring to boil. Add back in the meats and lower to simmer over low heat. Stir with love occasionally for at least 2 hours. If sauce thickens too much more water can be added.