The Red Part of Christmas

In the 80’s when I lived in Washington DC we used to go to a really fancy Italian Restaurant on King street in Alexandria when we wanted the best Italian food we could find outside of Italy. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant now, but I do remember everything about my favorite dish there, veal cannelloni. I have never experienced a lighter, but more flavorful triple ground veal, spinach and cheese filling wrapped in a thin crepe with both béchamel and marinara sauce.

When my dad requested pasta for his Christmas day lunch my mind went directly to that cannelloni and I began my quest to recreate that meal. I bought a new crepe pan, went to the new Fresh Market to see what the veal situation was and discuss my desire for triple grinding and I purchased six kinds of cheeses. All prep for all these parts of the dish has to wait until at least Christmas Eve, but I could make the marinara today.

Since pasta by itself does not usually make the holiday meal top ten list in our house I wanted to make sure that what I am going to make is Jesus worthy.   I studied the recipes of many fabulous Italian cooks and then went to work amalgamating all that I had in my head into my own recipe. I knew that if this version was not perfect I still had time to make other versions.

After cooking for half the day I tasted the product of my study and am writing the results down right now since it was the most superior sauce I have ever made. I did not try and lighten my version, but I must say that any evil ingredients are so small in amount that their inclusion is mandatory. I also used the right tools for the job. I knew there was a reason I owned a food mill.

If you are still searching for something to make over the holiday that will make everyone happy this sauce is a great place to start.

Christmas Marinara

¼ c. Olive Oil

½ pound minced Pancetta

3 large Yellow Onions – chopped

3 large Shallot- minced

8 cloves of garlic minced

5 – 28 oz. cans of San Marzano peeled tomatoes

Salt

In a large stockpot on medium high heat pour the olive oil and add the Pancetta. Cook stirring every so often for about five minutes. You are not browning the pork, just starting the rendering process.

Add the onions and shallots and stir them around and cook another 8 minutes. Add two big pinches of salt. You do not want to brown the onions, just soften. Then add the garlic, stir and cook three more minutes.

Open all the cans of tomatoes—spring for the Italian ones, Trader Joes sells them for $3.39 a can. Place a food mill over the pot and pour the cans, one at a time into the food mill and turn the crank until all the tomatoes have been pushed through the sieve. At the end of each can scrape the bottom part of the food mill into the pan since that is the really good part. Repeat until you have done all five cans.   The food mill will probably still have some seeds and the cores of some tomatoes in it that you will just throw away.

Bring the sauce up to a simmer and add a little more salt. Once the pot is bubbling a little turn the heat down just a bit so that the sauce is just bubbling. You are going to cook this for about three hours, stirring the pot every 15 mins or so.

Taste to see if it needs more salt.

You can keep this sauce in the fridge for about 4 days or freeze it if you are keeping it longer.

Your family will think you have an Italian grandmother tied up in the basement. This is worth the time and effort.