Paccheri con salsa di stufato

 This recipe is for what old time Italian Americans used to call Sunday gravy. This was when pasta was still called maccheroni. There are many versions but this is the Sicilian one as my dear mother used to make. Stufato means stew.

The ingredients are: some sausage, a few bracioli, a piece of unprocessed slab bacon with the rind and some pieces of beef chuck. You also need a bottle of passata di pomodoro or a large can of tomato puree, a small onion, a few leaves of fresh basil and two cloves of garlic. The traditional Sicilian recipe calls for some cinnamon and a few whole cloves. You also need peeled potatoes.

PROCEDURE: Take a deep pot and coat it's bottom with good EVO. Add the onion along with the garlic whole. A few laves of basil and some peperoncino are nice too. Let simmer in low heat for a few minutes making sure that the garlic is not burned. Add the meat and increase the heat. Let the pieces brown on all sides and the place in a dish. Add the tomato puree and half a glass of good red wine. Season for salt. Stir for about 5 minutes and then return the meat along with any juices that are in the dish. Cook in medium heat for about 45 minutes making sure that nothing sticks to the bottom. If the sauce gets too thick add some hot water or more wine. Now add the potatoes and continue cooking until they are tender. Some potatoes take longer than others. Once the potatoes are done add some nutmeg and some more basil. Turn off the heat.

Cook either rigatoni or penne rigate. I used pacccheri De Cecco but any cut pasta will do. It's a rather time consuming recipe but it's worth the effort. The pasta is the first course and the meat and potatoes are the second. I usually add a potato in the pasta dish. Try it this Sunday. It's to close to the usually filling Thanksgiving dinner to make it today, Saturday. It's a great cold weather dish. In the old days, on the so called "other side,"  sun dried tomato paste was used this was called strattu or extract. Tomato paste can be substituted but it's not the same. A good pecorino cheese is a must. I took the photo prior to this for clarity.

Buon appetito