I learned this from my mother, her sister (my aunt), and their mother (my grandmother) who was born in San Francisco in 1906, and who learned it from her mother, from Ferbicaro, Calabria, Italy, the Papa/Ludovici family.
My initial notes:
You can make this with or without meat, and with or without many of the ingredients, and all amounts are approximate--use what you have, use up what you need to, and make it to taste. No ingredient is totally essential, although without any tomatoes or tomato product, it's a different sauce, but if you are out of onions, or garlic, or particular herbs or spices, don't worry about it--just leave those out. Need to use up a head of garlic that's sprouting? Use it up--put the whole thing in. Experiment!
Apologies for the US-centric measurements, since it took a lot of work to get this far--if anyone converts to metric, please let me know so I can post a link!
The recipe:
Read the recipe through first--trust me. You can make this in the morning and have it ready in the evening, or make it days ahead--it keeps in the fridge for at least a week, and freezes beautifully.
Meat (optional):
- About 1 lb. lean hamburger, or Italian sausage (or just about any sausage), or lamb, or veal, or chicken, or a mixture of any of those. You can also use leftover meats.
Mushrooms (optional):
- Dried: If you're using dried mushrooms, reconstitute them in water that has just boiled: add the water, cover, and let sit. (Boiling water makes some, like porcini, bitter.) Slice or chop if desired. If using porcini, reserve about 1 c. of the "broth" from the top, not the sandy bit at the bottom.
- Fresh: 1-2 lbs. of fresh mushrooms, chopped if desired (e.g., crimini, portabello, oyster, lobster, chanterelles, etc.)
- 3 tbsps. or more very good extra virgin olive oil (I like an unfiltered, cold pressed) or oil that you like, or butter, or a combination of butter and olive oil
- 1-2 medium yellow onions or 1 large onion, or a mixture of onion and shallot, chopped finely. Look for a rather flat onion, since they can be sweeter.
- 3-6 or more big cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced, chopped or crushed/pressed, depending on your taste.
- 10 or so roma tomatoes or equivalent amount of whatever tomatoes you have on hand--really--you can even use cherry tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped. (I usually get "heirloom" tomatoes at the farmers' market.) You can use way more tomatoes if you don't have any prepared tomato sauce, strained or pureed tomatoes.
- Carrot: have one handy, because if your sauce is too acidic after simmering for a few hours, toss in the carrot and simmer for another couple of hours to cut the acidity
Liquids: Use one of these choices:
- 1-2 cups or more good, dry, full-bodied red wine (e.g., cabernet)--it doesn't haven't to be expensive, just drinkable.
- 1-2 cups of stock (meat or vegetable--your choice)
- Or a mixture of wine and stock--if you only have white wine on hand, then do use some stock with it.
- If using canned tomato sauce, about 60 oz. cans of good quality organic tomato sauce, or pureed or strained tomatoes
- 3-6 fresh sprigs of marjoram (or more to taste) or about 1 tbsp. dried, crushed
- 1-2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or more to taste) or about 1 tbsp. dried, crushed
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh oregano (or more to taste) or about 1 tbsp. dried, crushed
- 3-4 bushy stems of fresh basil or up to one bunch (to taste) with the leaves removed, and the larger ones sliced roughly, or about 1 tbsp. dried, crushed
- dash of white pepper (or black if you prefer)
- dash of salt or dash of honey (or agave syrup) if you avoid salt
Use your heaviest bottomed pot, 4 quarts or larger.
Open cans, get out the wine, have the liquids ready to go.
If you're using raw meat, brown the meat, then turn off the heat and drain the fat--all the fat. Really. Trust me. If using fatty sausage, take the meat all the way out, and wipe out the pot a bit with a rag or paper towel. Put the meat back in the pot.
Chop your onions.
If you're not using meat, then heat up the pot (a bit above medium heat) and add your olive oil or butter. If you're using butter, add the butter first then the olive oil. If you are using meat, still add your olive oil and/or butter, but you may want a little less.
Add onions to the pot and sautee on high enough heat to brown them well without burning. Meanwhile, slice and/or chop your mushrooms. If you're onion is burning too quickly, just turn the heat down or turn the heat off until your mushrooms are ready.
If you're using dried spices, turn the heat down on the pot and add them to the pot right before adding the mushrooms--put them into the palm of your hand, and rub your hands together to crush them into the pot. Stir them in so they don't burn.
Add the mushrooms to the pot on high enough heat and sautee. While they're sauteing, prepare your garlic. You want to sautee fresh mushrooms until they release their liquid--if they do this and you're still preparing your garlic, just turn the heat off under the pot. Dried and reconstituted mushrooms don't need very long, or can sautee for a while. You don't want to prepare your garlic ahead of time--it will lose and turn flavor. The longer you cook your garlic, the milder it will be, so cook it to taste.
If using fresh tomatoes, add them now and saute until they're all squishy and saucy.
Add your liquids. If using mushroom "broth" from dried mushrooms, add that now, too.
If using fresh herbs, tie them all except the basil together in a bundle with 100% cotton string and drop them into the pot and stir them in. (If I have a lot of time, or it's a special occasion, I'll remove the leaves from the thyme and marjoram and put those into the pot, and remove the leaves from the rosemary and chop them finely, and then just leave the oregano in as sprigs to be removed later--the oregano in my garden can be a bit bitter to eat.) Prepare basil leaves, and add to the pot.
If you're using cooked meats, add them to the pot now.
Bring back up to a simmer and simmer covered for as long as 8 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so to prevent sticking.
