Polenta Cakes with Meat Sauce

Sugu...............simply means meat sauce in Italian.  Better yet, it is even simple to make!  For this recipe I wanted to try something unusual, daring, different.  I decided to make polenta cakes and top it with a sausage meat sauce!

If you have never tried polenta I encourage you to do so!  Polenta is cornmeal cooked into a porridge, or fried, in this case.  If you like grits you will love polenta!

Make your polenta according to package directions.  I add butter, cream and Parmesan cheese to mine.  For this recipe you can either make it into a porridge or refrigerate it so that you can fry it later.  A few days ago I made beef short ribs over polenta.  Instead of throwing away the leftover polenta,  I decided to wrap it up and use for this meal!

Before frying your polenta cakes you need to start the sugu.  Here are the ingredients I used:

1 pound Italian sausage
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can crushed tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
2 teaspoons parsley, basil and oregano
2 tablespoons Olive oil for saute

To begin the sauce, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil.  Cook until translucent.

Add the sausage and brown.

Add the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.  I was able to open a jar of tomato sauce that I canned this summer!

Add the spices and let it simmer until it thickens.  I let mine simmer for an hour.

As that simmers, it is time to fry the polenta cakes.  Take the log of polenta and cut it up.  Heat up a skillet with a little olive oil and pry your cakes.  That's it!

Assemble your polenta cakes on a plate and top with the meat sauce.  I added fresh parsley and Parmesan on the top.

Here you go:  simple, impressive and cheap! 

Mangia!

Bracciole

Bracciole is an Italian dish, featuring a stuffed meat.  My Nonna made bracciole and my mother learned to make it.  It was one of my dad's favorite dishes.

Nonna, Dad, Nonnu and Aunt Lily

September 10th, 1944

Dad's two older brothers - Matt and Vince were serving in WWII

Nonna and my dad

The key to making a good bracciole is a good sauce.  Here are the recipes for my meat sauce and marinara sauce.

The ingredients for my bracciole:

Flank steak- pounded thin

Parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup

Bread crumbs- 1/2 cup

Fresh parsley - 3 tablespoons

Boiled egg (I know, just go with it)

My grandmother put spinach in hers. Tonight, I'm going to stuff mine with zucchini and a little crushed pine nuts.  Unusual ingredients, but I am entering this into a Fabio Kitchen Challenge!

Pound the flank steak thin.  When I pound meat, I put the meat in a Ziploc bag so as not to tear the meat up.

Assemble the stuffing.  In my case I used the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, boiled eggs, crushed pine nuts and zucchini.  The beauty of bracciole is that you can stuff it with whatever you like.

Roll the steak and tie it off.

Sear the bracciole in a dutch oven or large pot.

Cover with sauce and let it simmer for 2-3 hours.

When you are ready to serve, remove the string and slice.  Serve over sauce.

Mangia!

Meat Sauce

This recipe is listed on Domestic Randomness

Being Italian, I was raised eating pasta.  I love all kinds of pasta:  spaghetti, ravioli, mostaccioli, fettuccine.  The key to good pasta is a great sauce.   All of my family members make their sauce differently, but they all have key ingredients.  My Nonna made the best sauce ever!

My Nonna and Nonnu with me

My Nonna and Nonnu were from Sicily.  I remember going to their house when I was little and she was always cooking.  Everytime we were there she made us eat.  "Mangia, mangia," she would always say.  They spoke very little English.  I loved listening to them, always arguing like Italians do - we are passionate people!  She died when I was little but I have some great memories.

This recipe is one that I have tweaked over the years.

Ingredients: 

1 pound ground round
1/2 pound ground salsicha (italian sausage)
4 cans tomato sauce
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup sugar
Parsley
Basil
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

Brown the beef and sausage.  Add the onions and garlic.  Saute together for 5 minutes or so.  Add the two cans of crushed tomatoes, wine, cheese, basil, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar.

Let that simmer for 30 minutes or so.  Add the rest of the sauce and cook it all day.  The longer it cooks, the better it is.

My mother does not like to put sugar in her sauce.  Instead, she blends the crushed tomatoes with a carrot.  She feels like the carrot adds the right amount of sweetness.  I enjoy my sauce a little sweeter, so I add sugar.

My Nonna added several pieces of meat and bones in her sauce.  She added meatballs to her sauce and let them cook in the sauce. Adding the meat bones and meatballs does add flavor to the sauce, but it also adds greasiness.  She would skim the grease off the top of the sauce.  I would rather skip that step, so I brown my meat first and let it finish cooking in the sauce. 

As my Nonna would say, "Mangia!"

This recipe is featured on Foodie Friends Friday! and Buns In My Oven!  Weekend Potluck and Simple Living and Eating!