Full Recipe
Author
Alex Guarnaschelli | 2025-07-10
Description
My dad put so many types of tomato products and garlic in his Italian American dishes that my head spun. He loved his tomato paste and would buy the little cans like he was hoarding gold. He also bought passata, which is simply puréed and strained tomatoes—it's vibrant in flavor and free of bitter seeds and acidic bits of skin and blends with the tang of the tomato paste and the heartiness of canned tomatoes. Can't find passata? Purée a few ripe tomatoes and strain out the seeds and skin. Don't want to use beef for your meatballs? Sub the same amount of pork or ground turkey. Also, on nights when we had friends over, we would add a few cooked, spicy pork sausages to the pot of sauce and meatballs. And if anyone asks you, in my house it's called sauce, not gravy!
