2025 Annual Food & Drink Issue

The Family Gravy (Sunday Sauce) Recipe

Heirloom Eats

heir·loom (noun): a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations

From furniture and faith to collectibles and character traits, there are a lot of things that get passed down over the course of a family’s history, and recipes are no exception. But a recipe nurtured by generations of love and care is so much more than the food it creates. It’s also a reminder of the laughter and light that can happen when a family comes together.

Photography by Rich Smith

“My love of food stems directly from my mom’s big and boisterous Italian family and their weekly ritual of sharing a meal. It was always followed by spitfire retellings of the same hilarious stories, interspersed with talk about food. This dish sits right at the heart of that time, place, and people in my mom’s youth. Growing up apart from all that, I experienced her version of this ritual with our table always populated by a broad, chosen family, especially those who didn’t have families of their own. My wife and I now treat our home in much the same way.”
– John-Michael Forman

 

 

A woman and a man sit at a wooden table enjoying bowls of food, with olive oil and a basket nearby. Natural light in the room.

Lorraine & John-Michael Forman

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A blue bowl of rigatoni with marinara sauce and herbs next to a green bowl of meatballs on a wooden table.

The Family Gravy (Sunday Sauce)

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Course dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 7

Ingredients
  

  • 1½ Tbsp. olive oil
  • ½ medium yellow onion
  • 2 lbs. 10 count sweet, mild, or hot Italian sausage
  • Salt to taste
  • 4 cloves garlic pressed or minced
  • 1 Tbsp. fennel seeds
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • 1½ tsp. anchovy paste or 2 fillets
  • ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
  • 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • Cooked pasta of choice for serving
  • Parmesan cheese for topping

Instructions
 

  • Heat olive oil in a 4+ quart lidded pot on medium-high (enamel cast iron is ideal).
  • While heating, chop onion into ½-inch slices.
  • Sear sausage links on all sides, until dark brown but not cooked through, then set aside.
  • Sauté onion in pot until just tender (2-4 minutes), sprinkling with salt.
  • Press or mince garlic cloves and add to sauté, stirring frequently.
  • Add fennel, black pepper, anchovy paste, and red pepper flakes shortly after garlic.
  • As soon as garlic starts to toast, add in the diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, along with all liquids from the cans, and tomato paste. Once fully incorporated, add brown sugar and return sausage to sauce, reducing the heat to low and fastening the lid.
  • Let simmer 1-5 hours, stirring on occasion. You can also transfer the sauce to a crockpot for 4-6 hours. The sauce should start to darken in color after 2 hours.
  • Salt to taste.
  • Remove sausage from sauce, and serve over hearty pasta, such as rigatoni or penne.
  • Top with Parmesan.
Keyword authentic italian, Italian gravy, marinara sauce, pasta sauce, red sauce, tomato sauce
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