Day 12: Italian Sunday Dinners

Sunday dinner prep. Sauce and meatballs! 

(Oh, and lentil soup for the week)

Growing up, Sundays always meant family dinners.

It was usually at our house or my grandmother's house, and nine times out of ten, we ate macaroni.

"Dinner" time was always in the middle of the afternoon. It could start anywhere around 2pm and last until the time when non-Italians eat dinner on Sundays.

And the best part about these dinners, was that everyone showed up. No matter what was going on, they dropped everything and were seated at the kitchen table (no fancy dining rooms here), tearing apart a loaf of Italian bread with their hands.

We'd eat macaroni, meat – such as pork meat, braciola, sausage and meatballs, which had been simmering to ultimate tenderness in the sauce all day, sort of salad and bread. And, of course, red wine. That's it. Nothing fancy.

There were no invitations, besides determining the place where Sunday dinner was to be held, and that destination trickled down through the Sunday morning phone tree. And then you just showed up, grabbed a bowl, and dug in.

Nowadays, it's not so easy to pull off a Sunday dinner. Schedules are busy. Laundry is waiting. Errands need to get done. 

When did life get so busy and complicated? 

I know for us, if we are planning to attend – or even host – a Sunday dinner, I have to plan for that during the week, and pull double duty on Saturdays to get everything done.

Our weekends are sacred: grocery store, errands, laundry, cooking for the week, yard work, catching up on bills, putting away all the stuff that was lying around on the counters all week. And sometimes, finding time to do something fun, like take Little Mister to the park or go out to eat. And when I'm feeling frivolous with time, I try to sneak in a haircut or manicure.

We are fortunate that our 3 year old still naps (I KNOW), and not only that, he's a marathon napper. I use those 3-hour blocks like a pro, accounting for every minute. Downside: when I wrap up doing what needs to get done and I'm ready to sit down and relax for 10 minutes, he wakes up. Mommy time over.

So today, I'm recreating Sunday dinner, even if it's just for the 3 of us. Macaroni, meat sauce, salad. Lots of grated cheese and red wine.

I'd like for LM to have traditions he can remember from his childhood. 

Maybe it's time to bring back Sunday dinners! (Well, maybe once a month...)

Day 2 NaBloPoMo: the perfect bolognese sauce

Big day today: Rob and I left the house! Alone! Without the baby!

I wish I could say that we snuck away to a bar or the casino or someplace awesome. But we went car shopping. Or, more like car looking. Which I know I should be more excited about since the car is for me, but I'd much prefer to be sitting at a bar. (Cars are just cars, right?)

So today was the first time the "Grammies" came over to babysit for Max! (Everyone survived, poopy diaper and all)

As a thank you, I made Sunday dinner: my bolognese sauce.

If you read this blog you know how much I love to cook. I don't usually share recipes though; not because I don't want to, but because it's frustrating to people because I don't measure anything. So my recipes aren't…exact.

But cooking isn't exact, which is why I love it. And which is why I'm so horrible at baking. When I tell Mr. KK I'm going to bake something, a look of terror crosses his face and he instantly has something to check on/do/mow/build in the yard.

So I stick to cooking.

My bolognese sauce goes something like this:

Ingredients:

1 onion
2 carrots
2 ribs of celery
1 pound meatloaf mix (this is a combo of beef, pork and veal; if you can't find it in the grocery store, you can just use ground beef)
tomato paste (a tablespoon or so)
red wine (about 1/2 cup or so)
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
dried oregano (1/2 tablespoon)
dried basil (1/2 tablespoon)
salt
pepper
sugar (a pinch or so; some people are anti-sugar, but I like the sweetness that it adds)

NOTE: I made a double recipe, so the measurements and photos below reflect that.

To avoid cutting everything up into tiny pieces, 

I pulse the onion, carrot and celery in the food processor until it's a fine dice 

(but not mush). I sauté that in olive oil until it cooks down. 

Stir in tomato paste until it coats the veggies. Add the red wine.

Add the ground meat to brown. I use a potato masher to break up the meat 

while it's cooking (a trick I stole from Rachael Ray!). Cook until the meat is browned.

I only use Tuttorosso tomatoes, because they are all I've every known to be used for sauce.

Add them to the pan. Add the spices and the salt, pepper and sugar.

Stir the sauce and when it starts bubbling reduce to a simmer. 

It will be thick, you can add a half of a can of water to thin it out a bit.

 My secret ingredient: parmesan cheese rind. I add one to my pot of sauce and let it melt down. it gives the sauce a creamier, nutty flavor. I was able to purchase just the rinds at my local Stop and Shop, so they either saw the demand for them, or got tired of me asking for them.

My sous chef for the day.

He can be a little bossy.

 I love bolognese with Rigatoni. It's the best for holding the chunky, meaty sauce.

Oh, and it's all macaroni, my friends. Not pasta. :)

The Sunday Dinner Tradition

If you're Italian, you probably grew up going to "Sunday dinner" with your family. 

There was macaroni, wine poured into juice glasses, crusty bread for mopping up sauce. You'd eat a big meal early in the afternoon and then, there was probably napping of some sort.

For me, Sunday dinners were spent at my grandparents' house. I would run up the stairs and burst into my grandmother's kitchen, shoes scraping on her linoleum floor. The entire house smelled amazing, a mixture of garlic and tomatoes. She'd be at the stove, wooden spoon in hand, wearing her apron. I'd rush to her, throwing my arms around her legs and just breathe everything in. And when no one was looking, she'd sneak me a fried meatball and send me on my way to play.

Sundays meant time with family.

They still do, but it's so hard to find the time to dedicate an afternoon to cooking and relaxing, and just enjoying each other's company. 

There's always an errand to run, a load of laundry to be done or a chore to be finished.

But I want Baby M to grow up surrounded by family and traditions. I don't want him to ever feel we're too busy to do something, or that weekends – the time we'll really get to spend with him – is for rushing around and mindless tasks. I want him to feel like that time is all about him. Spending time with his family. I want him to know family traditions, so we have to start now.

This past Sunday, I hosted a Sunday dinner. 

I was up early at the grocery store, buying the cans of crushed tomatoes and the meat for the sauce.

My father-in-law made two big batches of homemade pasta.

I fried 50 meatballs and made the most delicious meat sauce with pork, sausage and braciola.

We had two servings each and bottomless red wine.

We played bocce.

And it was a perfect afternoon to bring back tradition.