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Grandma’s Rigatoni and Meat Sauce

Make it this Sunday, your family and frieScreen Shot 2016-03-18 at 8.40.46 PMnds will gather.

Not to mention as it cooks your home is gonna have that “Grandma is cooking” aroma.
I love this sauce with a Rigatoni pasta but you could use any pasta cut you prefer.

You’ll need:

  • 1-lb meaty pork shank
  • 1-lb meaty beef shank
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1-cup chopped onion
  • 4-garlic cloves smashed
  • 2-bay leaves
  • 4-28 oz can whole Italian plum tomatoes crushed by hand
  • 1-cup of water to slosh around all 4-cans
  • 1 cup of a dry red wine
  • Salt & pepper
  • 1-tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions: 

  1. Season the shanks with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or heavy pot then brown the shanks on all sides over a med/high heat. Remove to a plate.
  3. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes and sauté for 5 minutes.
  4. Add the wine and deglaze the pot with a wooden spoon scraping all the brown bits.
  5. Add hand crushed tomatoes all the juice, water, bay leaves. Stir and bring to a boil.
    6-Add the shanks and any juice that is on the plate.
  6. Using a tong push the shanks under the sauce and add a pinch of salt n pepper.
  7. Bring to a boil.
  8. Cover 3/4 of the pot to allow the steam to escape and lower the heat to a low simmer allow this to cook for 3-4 hours.
  9. Stir a couple times an hour. Make sure it’s a low simmer so not to burn the sauce.
  10. After 3 hours remove the shanks, the meat should be falling off the bones.
  11. Remove any meat from the sauce and shred the meat with a forks and add back to the sauce.
  12. Remove the bay leaves.
  13. Always cook your pasta 2-min short of recommended time and finish cooking in the sauce.

This sauce is a long process but in the end it’s worth the time. The thickness of the sauce can be adjusted at the final stage. I serve mine with a hearty rigatoni, some pecorino Romano cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
Daniel Mancini

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