Adding spicy Italian sausage to tomato sauce with meatballs imparts a deep, rich flavor.Make it by adding meatballs and sausage to tomato sauce. Then simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Eat the sausage with the meatballs or save them to make Italian sausage-and-pepper sandwiches.
Growing up in my home, grabbing a jar of tomato sauce at the store was not an option. Not when you had dozens of jars of Grandma’s homemade tomato sauce downstairs in the basement. Nothing could ever compare to her sauce recipe, passed down for generations. And after years of watching my family make this iconic sauce, I have been bequeathed all of my grandmother’s inside tips—including her secret ingredient that takes tomato sauce to another level.
In my family, the tradition of making Grandma’s Italian tomato sauce is borderline religious. It all starts in August, when the tomatoes are ripe and freshly picked. At least 25 pounds of tomatoes (sometimes more) are picked and toted home. Then, the sauce-making process begins. The tomatoes are boiled, peeled, processed, then added to a pot with garlic, basil, onion and olive oil. The simple, delicious sauce simmers for hours before it is placed in clean jars and canned for the winter.
But those jars are just the beginning. What’s inside is actually the base for Grandma’s sauce. Her secret ingredient comes in when it’s time to assemble a pot of sauce for Sunday supper. First, homemade Italian meatballs are seared to keep their shape, then tossed into a large pot of the sauce to finish cooking as they simmer for hours before dinner. Right behind them goes my grandmother’s secret ingredient for the most flavorful sauce imaginable: hot Italian sausage.
Why My Grandma Adds Sausage to Her Sauce
For Grandma, it’s all about the flavor. Hot Italian sausage is a complex mix of ground pork and seasonings like fennel, red pepper flakes, garlic and other spices. However, my grandma doesn’t break the sausage apart and add the crumbles to the sauce (although that would likely be delicious). Instead, she focuses on a slow release of flavor. She starts by using a fork to poke holes in the whole Italian sausages. Then she drops the links into the sauce to simmer throughout the day. As it bubbles, the fatty, spicy sausage flavor will slowly release, giving her sauce that extra oomph of flavor that makes it so special.
When it’s time to eat dinner, the sausage can be removed from the sauce before serving, or not, depending on each person’s preference. While my grandma uses sausages for flavor, some of my family members do like slicing up the cooked sausage and adding it to their meal. This, of course, adds more protein to an otherwise carb-heavy dish. Others—like myself— save the whole sausages for easy Italian sausage-and-pepper sandwiches to eat throughout the week. (To make them, sauté peppers and onions in some olive oil, and add the sausage until it’s warmed through. Then spoon this meaty goodness onto a hoagie roll or hot dog bun. Don’t forget to drizzle more sauce on top!)
Simmering Makes All the Difference
While the hot Italian sausage is the secret ingredient to packing this sauce with flavor, the key to really building those flavors is allowing it to simmer for a few hours. In my family, we typically aim for three to four hours, letting the sauce settle on low and stirring occasionally, so the flavors really shine by the time dinner is served.
This method also gives the meatballs enough time to cook. The meatballs are formed before lunchtime, made with the classic “meatball mix” of ground beef, pork and veal. The meatballs also include two slices of bread soaked in milk, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, Italian seasonings, two eggs, salt and cracked pepper. After combining the ingredients in a big bowl, we form the balls, around 2 inches in diameter each. Next, we sear them in a skillet with olive oil for less than a minute on each side, so they retain their shape while they simmer. Then into the sauce they go, followed by the sausages. Over those few hours, the meatballs will slowly cook and soak up all that flavor from the sauce.
Yes, it takes time, but it’s so worth it. As my grandma always says, “Good things come to those who wait.”
Our Sunday Supper Tradition
When it’s time to make sauce in August, we make sure that we have enough to last us the rest of the year. This means we have enough sauce to make a pot of meatballs (and sausages!) every single Sunday. It’s an easy way to plan, so my family knows that at least one of the coming week’s dinners is covered. There’s also something comforting about having a big pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove on a weekend. When I smell the familiar scents of tomato, basil, oregano and fatty pork, it always feels like coming home.
Many meatball lovers traditionally like to serve their dish with a pile of buttery spaghetti. But in my family, we skip the pasta. These meatballs are good enough to eat on their own, with a side of simple garlic bread made with a toasted Italian loaf, butter and minced garlic—or garlic salt, if you’re feeling lazy. A pillowy green salad with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette is served on the side, and voilà! Dinner is served.
Sure, you could serve your tomato sauce, meatballs and sausages with pasta or ravioli. But for my family, the meatballs and sauce are the main event. Why fill up on pasta when you could save room for more of that delicious sauce instead?
The Bottom Line
Every grandma has their secrets when it comes to making tasty food. And for my Italian grandmother, the secret ingredient in her tomato sauce is hot Italian sausage. This flavor-filled addition provides an extra kick of spicy, rich, fatty goodness that makes our Sunday supper traditions that much better. However, Grandma’s sauce isn’t just about the sausage. It’s filled with hearty, satisfying homemade meatballs that are so delicious that we skip the pasta entirely and eat the meatballs and sauce with garlic bread. While you can always slice up and eat the sausages with your meal, we like to save them for easy sausage-and-pepper sandwiches for lunches to eat throughout the week. But, really, you can’t go wrong either way. Buon appetito!
Dining and Cooking