Ida's Authentic Italian Red Sauce

Six years ago I spent a wonderful day in the kitchen with my mother-in-law, Ida. She taught me the secrets to making her red sauce in hopes that the recipe would stay in the family forever. I am sharing it with you, my family and friends...with Ida's blessing...so that her sauce...the BEST Italian Red Sauce ever...is never forgotten.

Ida grew everything herself in her well-tended garden...from little seeds and/or bulbs in her greenhouse...to drying her peppers by hanging them in the garage and grinding them herself. From her tomatoes - fresh and boiled and jarred to hand making all her own pasta..this woman could do it all. She even hosted dinners for a dozen family members at a time...always with at least 5 courses...all made by hand and with love. And that was until she was 90!! She could run circles around me any day! I hope that Ida knows how special she is and what a wonderful family she raised...especially my husband :)...and I hope you all enjoy this sauce.

I have personally eaten this sauce ladled over pasta...both fresh and boxed, over rice, shirataki noodles, on a bed of sautéed spinach, in lasagna, and simply by the spoonful. It is so satisfying and it truly stands out as something special. Don't be daunted by all the steps...it is completely doable and totally worth it!

Ingredients

• Jars or cans of tomatoes...depending on amount you want to make...see notes below

• Garlic cloves

• Canola and olive oil

• Italian parsley bunch

Pork Neck

• 1 package pork neck

• garlic cloves

Meatballs (36)

• 3 lbs ground veal

• 2 lbs ground pork

• Italian parsley

• minced garlic clove

• 3 1/2 eggs

• salt and pepper

• 2 handfuls breadcrumbs (truly that's her measurement :)

Optional

Meat Rolls

• veal filet

• pork shoulder

• sliced garlic

• Italian parsley

• salt and pepper

Pork Ribs

Sausages (homemade or store-bought)

Pork Shoulder chunks

Directions/Prep

1. Start a day ahead with the pork necks. Get a large bowl that can fit in your fridge. Cover the raw pork neck bones in cold water with a few raw whole cloves of peeled garlic and lots of salt. Leave these for at least a day in the fridge.

2. After a day, rinse the bones in a colander. If they are too fatty - remove some of the fat. If they are too wet - dry with a paper towel. Set aside

3. The meat rolls, pork ribs and sausages are all optional. They do impart a lot more flavour to the sauce, but you can get by with simply making a smaller batch of sauce with meatballs only.

4. If you wish to make the meat rolls...see the pictures...they really help. Cut thin filets of veal. Layer with a thin strip of pork shoulder, a couple really thin slices of fresh garlic on the meat along with a couple pieces of parsley and roll up and tie with kitchen string.

5. Make the meatballs...mix the ground meats in a large bowl. Add a small handful of chopped parsley, a few minced garlic cloves, 3 1/2 eggs, and a couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs. Salt and pepper to taste. You can always add more salt but you can't take it away. It's easy to simply warm up a fry pan and take a teaspoon of meat and fry and taste to check the seasoning and overall flavour before you form all those meatballs.

6. Form meatballs. See picture. They should be a little flat but egg/football shaped so they fry up nicely in the pan, but still hold together well. This amount of meat makes 36 meatballs but you can easily half the recipe to make a small batch. I prefer a large batch if I have freezer space. That way, I can make lasagna or you can share the sauce, as Ida did, with family at the end of sauce day.

Tomatoes

1. Use the best quality jars/cans of tomatoes. Use whole jarred tomatoes if you like but drain out a bit of the water if you do. I like tall jars of tomatoes from Italy. Already pureed...even better. But you can use a mix of both if you like. 8 to 12 jars will make a large batch of sauce. Use a hand blender if not already done for you. Pour the tomato sauce into a very large pot. Set aside. In a sink near stove is best.

Prep and cook meat

1. Get all your meats ready. Defrost if frozen. Dry them if needed.

2. Preheat a large frypan on medium. Add 2 tbsp each canola and olive oils.

3. Fry neck bones first. Bone side down so meat doesn't stick. Fry necks on all sides. Using tongs, remove to a colander that is over a pie plate or something else that can catch extra drippings.

4. Pour the drippings that are in the frying pan into your large pot of pureed tomatoes.

5. Clean fry pan after every step so you never have burnt bits or impurities in your sauce.

6. Fry meatballs in batches so there's space between them.

7. Don't worry about the amount of oil...it is all apart of the flavour. Use the canola and olive oils with every batch of meat. Pour all drippings into tomato sauce.

8. Fry all other meats...ribs, meat rolls, extra pork shoulder, sausages...

Now for the sauce

1. Put the big pot of tomato sauce and oil mix on to stovetop

2. Boil without the lid for 15 minutes

3. Add the cooked pork neck and lower heat to simmer

4. Add meat rolls 15 minutes later

5. Then ribs

6. About an hour after start, add a tied bunch of parsley (to be removed later) and some fresher chopped garlic...depending on how much sauce you are making

7. Add meatballs and sausages

8. Add salt and pepper to taste

The above takes place over an hour and a half. It should simmer for another hour and a half. (3 hours total).

Melt in Your Mouth Short Ribs

I've made these short ribs and/or beef ribs so many times I don't even measure ingredients anymore. But for you...I've made a template of recipe ingredients that you can follow or adjust to your liking.

These ribs remind me of what homestyle Sunday night dinners are all about. The smells in your home when family or company walks through the door is an invitation to the dining room table that no one can resist! It doesn't take a lot of skill, but makes you look like you've slaved over the stove all day! Meanwhile, the oven does a lot of the work:)

First of all, grab a large oven-safe pot with lid. You're going to start on the stove top and then head into the oven. If you don't have a dutch oven...I highly recommend them. I have 2. I use my smaller one for side dishes, meals for two, and baking bread. My larger pot I tend to use more because we love leftovers! I make large roast chickens with all the fixings, ribs-grilling and short ribs, and stews etc with this one.

I normally use 4 ribs for this recipe. Depending on the size of pot you have, number of people you are feeding, and how much leftovers you want...plan on one rib per person if they are large ribs. The pics below can feed a family of 4. You can spoon it over rice, potatoes, or noodles as well to add bulk and be able to sop up the broth. I don't add any thickeners to the recipe, but feel free if that's what you like at the end.

You can use any vegetables you have in the fridge. Use up whatever is in the crisper. It's all going to cook down and take on great flavour so don't worry about the condition of the veggies either (no slimy ones of course!)...If your carrots and celery are waving where they used to point...just give them all a rough chop and throw them in the pot. I enjoy cooking with leeks rather that regular onions. I use both the green ends and the whites. I love the flavour they add. Just always give them a good rinse before using. They tend to get a lot of grit in them.

The seasonings are really a personal preference. If you prefer whole bay leaves - use a couple but then remove them before serving. I use crushed sometimes. Whatever seasonings you have such as Mrs. Dash or garlic premixed seasonings are fine too. Also, I use tomato paste that comes in a tube rather than a can. It's so much easier when you don't need to use much and you can keep it in the fridge a lot longer. You can find the tubes in the pasta aisle in the grocery store.

If you don't have any beer or choose to use only broth you can. Just use the same amount. You can substitute any broth...beef is great for added rich flavour but chicken and vegetable both work fine too. I use the low sodium version as well. That way you can control how much salt you want in your meal.

Please let me know below in the comments if you make this meal! I'd love to hear from you!

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Melt In Your Mouth Short Ribs

Ingredients

• Ribs...Beef short or grilling ribs*

• 3 cups any kind

• Leeks, carrots, celery, peppers, mushrooms...all veg rough chopped**

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1/2 tsp thyme

• 1/2 tsp chili flakes

• 1/2 tsp bay leaves***

• Few dashes Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 cup dark beer****

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Salt and pepper your beef.

3. Heat a dutch oven on the stove top with some oil

4. Sear the meat for a couple of minutes on each side...do this in batches so you have lots of room in the pot. Set ribs aside. Do not drain the pot

5. Add chopped veggies.

6. Saute veg for a few minutes

7. Add seasonings and tomato paste and give a stir for a minute.

8. Add beer and broth and stir

9. Add back in beef. Beef should lay in the liquid, but they don't need to be entirely covered

10. Bring to a boil on the stovetop

11. Place lid on pot and place dutch oven into oven for about an hour and a half to 2 hour

Tips

*I normally use 4 ribs. Depending on the size of pot you have, number of people you are feeding, and how much leftovers you want...plan on one rib per person if they are large ribs. The pics above feed a family of 4. You can spoon it over rice, potatoes, or noodles.

**You can use any vegetables you have in the fridge. Use up whatever is in the crisper. It's all going to cook down and take on great flavour so don't worry about the condition of the veggies either. (no slimy ones of course!) Just give them all a rough chop and throw them in the pot

***The seasonings are really a personal preference. If you prefer whole bay leaves - use a couple but then remove them before serving. I use crushed sometimes. Whatever seasonings you have such as Mrs. Dash or garlic premixed seasonings are fine too. Also, I use tomato paste that comes in a tube rather than a can. It's so much easier when you don't need to use much and you can keep it in the fridge a lot longer.

****If you don't have any beer or choose to use only broth you can. Just use same amount. You can substitute any broth...beef is great for added rich flavour but chicken and veg broth both work fine too. I use low sodium broth as well. That way you can control how much salt you want in your meal.