WHAT WINE For SUNDAY SAUCE "GRAVY"

Wine for Sunday Sauce? What do you drink? Which wine pairs best with Sunday Sauce, thee Supreme Dish of Italian-America? Is it Chianti, most iconic of all Italian Wines? Perhaps Aglianico or Piedrossa from the region of Campania where the roots of Italian-American Sunday Sauce Gravy begin? Or a Sicilian Wine like Nero d’Avola or Norello Mascallese? If you trace the roots of Italian-American Sunday Sauce and the people who created it, Sicilians are among the top of the list. Now, I know since you came to this page that bottle of Carlo Rossi “Paisano” just had to catch your eye. And I’m sure most of you are asking the question, “Carlo Rossi Paisano, are You Kidding?” The answer. “No, Not Really.” Well I’m not saying it’s the best choice. OK so we have to match a good wine with that fabulous Sunday Sauce of yours. What to drink?

I’m here to tell you, it can be one or more of many wines, and don’t count a wine like Carlo Rossi Paisano out. “You’re Joking?” You say. No. Listen, this can be your wine, maybe not. I myself have drank some of the World’s Priciest, and so-called greatest wines in the World, “Trophy Wines,” like; Sassicaia, Gaja Barbaresco. La Tache, Chateau Petrus, Chateau Haute Brion, Petrus, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Latour, all the great Brunello and Barolo wines, great vintage Champagnes, you name it, “I’ve had it.” And with my knowledge of wine, I can tell you, a lot of it is hype, and Marketing BS, and sometimes not. And I’ll tell you this, do not be so much of a snob, a Wine Snob. You see that Carlo Rossi, with all the prestigious wines that I’ve consumed over the years, I’m not above drinking that. Carlo Rossi .. The wine has special meaning and affection for me. It’s one of  the two wines my uncles always bought for our Sunday Family Meals. Meals of Meatballs, Sunday Sauce “Gravy,” Ravioli, Veal Marsala, Chicken Cactitore. My Uncles Tony and Frank always had either Carlo Rossi paisano or Gallo Hearty Burgungy on hand. They were their wines, and they only had other wines if someone brought something like Bolla Valpolicella, Rufino Chianti or some other wine. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Paisano or Gallo Hearty Burgundy are great wines, “No.” But they are not that bad. They are Italian-American Wines made by Italian-Americans and have social significance to Italian-Americans. These wines are part of our history, as are the wines from the great Robert Mondavi, The Mondavi Family, Francis Ford Coppola and other Italian Families in America.

So what am I saying? What wines to drink with the Sunday Sauce or any home-made Italian American Meal? Well, actually most of the time I do drink wines from Italy with my Sunday Sauce or whatever Italian food we’re making. The Carlo Rossi is just when we eat over Uncle Tony’s house with Uncle Frank and all the wonderful meals with Aunt Fran, Aunt Helen, Mommy, Cousin Tony, and my brothers and sister and the whole family. No, I’m not above drinking Carlo Rossi or Gallo if my Uncles are serving it. When we’re eating at home, we usually love to drink Chianti, most times, sometimes Barolo, Barbera, or Brunello. But most often it’s Chianti which I love and it goes quite well with just about anything we eat, especially Meatballs, Sausage, and Sunday Sauce. Chinati comes from Tuscany and is a medium bodied wine made mostly from Sangiovese (The Blood of Jobe), and with small percentages of other native Tuscan grapes like; Colorino, Malvasia Nero, Cannaiolo, or Ciegolo. 

One thing I must say is, that I usually don’t like wines like Big, concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah from California or Australia. To me, these are the last wines I would ever want to drink with Italian food. Reason. These wines are usually to rich, and because of that, they clash with the food instead of complementing them. the wines you want to drink should have good flavor, but be light to medium in body and weight. Not Bif, Fat, Rich, and concentrated. “No Bueno!”

SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS

MEATBALLS alla SINATRA "RECIPE In SUNDAY SAUCE"

RECIPE In SUNDAY SAUCE .. Click HERE !!!!

MEATBALLS

    Spaghetti and Meatballs, what’s more Italian than that?  Well, a lot of things actually. There is a constant ongoing debate over whether “Spaghetti and Meatballs” is an authentic Italian dish or not. Of course spaghetti is Italian as you can get, and so are Meatballs. However Italians (in Italy) do not eat them together. Eating Spaghetti with Meatballs is an Italian-American invention and tradition, and a great one at that, as Lidia Bastianich and other have written. Italian-American is a great cuisine in itself. It is most truly authentic Italian with a few twist here and there, like eating Meatballs on the same plate with Spaghetti instead of two separate courses as they do in Italy. What’s wrong with that? Maybe the Italian-American mammas of way back (100 years ago, around 1905 or so) didn’t want to clean twice as many dishes so they combined the two courses into one. Just kidding, though it is not a bad idea.

    Let me tell you one thing, in case you might not have known. Meatballs, and yes they are Italian and eaten in Italy, meatballs are infinitely more popular in the United States than they are in the mother country of Italy. Americans eat millions more of them a year than their Italian brethren. The Neapolitans and Sicilians eat them the most in Italy and because of the fact that these are the areas where the greatest number of Italian immigrants to the U.S. came from, thus one of the reasons this dish became such a great favorite of Italian expatriates, their children, grandchildren, and millions of Americans, including people of other ethnic origins who happen to love the great cuisine of Italy and Italian-America. Italian is one of the World’s great cuisines. You don’t have to be Italian to love the food, the same as many Italian-Americans love to eat Chinese food, it’s tasty, so Mangia!!!

    Oh yes, you want to know what kind of meat goes into the Meatballs? Well the most common in Italian America are Meatballs made of ground Beef, Pork, and Veal. However, many make their meatballs solely with Beef, and in Italy and especially Tuscany, Veal Meatballs, “Polpettini” are quite popular. Whatever meat you choose, just make them tasty, and you’ll have people coming back for seconds, even third helpings.

    One more thing, Meatballs in Sauce (Gravy) are great but if you ever want a little change when making them? When making Meatballs for a Sunday Sauce or to serve with Spaghetti on their own, reserve a dozen or so meatballs that you don’t cook in sauce. Brown the Meatballs, then pop in the oven to finish cooking and serve on their own without tomato sauce gravy, and just a little bit of the juices the Meatballs cook in, with some chopped fresh parsley on top. They taste great this way. You can serve them as starter course (Antipasto), in a Sandwich, or as a main course with Mashed Potatoes, or a salad on the side or whatever you choose to serve them with, they’re “Great.” Try it some time!

Excerpted From SUNDAY SAUCE  "When Italian-Americans Cook"

   by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke

RECIPE FOR SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS alla SINATRA in SUNDAY SAUCE 
by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke

AVAILABLE On AMAZON.com CLICK HERE !!!!

SUNDAY SAUCE .....an ITALIAN-AMERICAN WAY of LIFE

SUNDAY SAUCE





One of the great traditions of the Italian American enclave in the U.S. is the ritual of Sunday afternoon when the entire family gets together for Mama’s or Nona’s famed “Sunday Sauce.” What is it? Well there are a number of variations on the theme. Most Sunday Sauce’s are made with Italian Sausage, Braciola, and Meatballs. Some people make theirs with pork ribs, beef neck, and possibly chicken thighs and backs. These meats are slowly simmered for several hours with tomato, minced onions, garlic, celery, and carrots. I generally like to make my Sunday Sauce with sausage, meatballs, and pork ribs. Other times I’ll make it with sausage, ribs, and braciola. An old tradition in some families is that mother or grandma would start the sauce early on a Sunday morning, get it simmering away for a couple hours on top of the stove, then put it in the oven for a couple hours while everyone goes to church, the sauce slowly simmers and when you get back home, the sauce is ready.
The Sunday Sauce that my mother would make was with sausage, meatballs and beef braciola. My memories are vivid watching my mother stuffing the braciola with garlic,
parsley, Pecorino, and pignoli nuts, then sewing up the bundles with a needle and thread so they would hold together while simmering in the gravy (many families all over the New York and around the country simply call Sunday Sauce “Gravy”). Another fond memory was helping my mother roll and shape the meatballs.
As for me, my Sunday Sauce will vary depending on my mood. One thing I love to do when making the sauce is the addition of pork spare ribs, which not to many people use, I love it.
Whenever people eat my sauce, they go nuts for the ribs and some are surprised cause they might never have had them in a sauce before. They didn’t know that you could use pork spareribs. The ribs are traditional with some but not everybody. It is quite a shame for those who don’t add the ribs because they give the sauce some wonderful flavor and they are incredibly delicious to eat after braising in the sauce for a couple of hours. Whenever I make the sauce and I’m dishing it out to friends and family, I always make sure that I have my fare share of the ribs. Pork ribs cooked in this manner, simmering in the sauce are oh so succulent and tasty. They are far beyond compare. “They are Out-of-this-World!!!” The friends, one-by-one, go nuts for them. “Yes they are most than tasty!”
And what to serve with the Sunday Sauce you ask? It should be a short macaroni; rigatoni, ziti, or gnocchi are best.
The rituals of cooking, serving, and eating Sunday Sauce is a time honored one. It is a beautiful thing. If you mention the term Sunday Sauce to any number of millions of Italian-Americans, the wheels start turning in their heads. Thoughts of how tasty it is, all the different components; the meatballs, sausages, braciola, (maybe ribs, beef or pork neck), the pasta, and the gravy itself.
They think about sitting at the table with friends and or family, people they love. They think about the antipasti that will start the meal and about some good Italian Wine, maybe a nice Chianti. They think about the warmth in the air, loved ones, Dino, Sinatra, and of course, the
Sunday Sauce itself. “It’s a beautiful thing!!!” If you’ve never done it, “Try it!” If you haven’t cooked one for some time, plan a get-together soon. “Sunday Sauce, it brings people together,” in a most delightful way.

"SUNDAY SAUCE" is excerpted from Daniel Bellino Zwicke's
upcoming book "La Tavola"