Italian Ragu With Meatballs And Sausage Recipes

HEARTY ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND MEATBALL STEW #RAGU

Steps:

• Place a 4-5 quart Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, green pepper, zucchini and salt. Mix well. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring often, until just heated through. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning. Mix well. Add the Ragu sauce, beef broth, garbanzo beans, black beans and diced tomatoes. Mix well and bring to a simmer. Add the pasta and cook until pasta is al dente. Add the sausage and meatballs. Mix well and bring to a simmer to heat through.
• Top each individual serving with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE RICE BALLS WITH MARINARA SAUCE #RAGU

Steps:

• Sauté onion over medium heat with olive oil in a large sauce pan for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add sweet potatoes, tomato paste, garlic, basil and oregano. Cover and cook 15 to 20 minutes on low heat until sweet potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.
• Place mixture in a large mixing bowl to let cool. When cool, add sausage, ¾ cup of the breadcrumbs, cheese, rice, and egg. Mix very well with hands.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly oil a baking sheet.
• With hands, form into golf ball size pieces and coat them in the remaining breadcrumbs. Place rice balls on baking sheet.
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
• Warm marinara sauce and drizzle over rice balls.
• Garnish with grated parmesan cheese.

MOM'S SUNDAY DINNER: ITALIAN RAGU WITH MEATBALLS AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• 1. In a large sauce pot (8-quart size minimum), heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil on a very low flame. Add the diced onion and cook slowly until it has turned translucent. Do not brown the onion, but allow it to almost melt away. Add the garlic cloves and very lightly cook them in the oil until golden before adding the tomatoes and all their juices. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the basil leaves and set the heat on low. Allow the tomatoes to cook at very low heat for at least 2 hours before adding the meat.
• 2. Make the meatballs: mix the ground beef and veal together in a large bowl. Combine the bread and milk and mash together to form a paste; add the bread to the ground meat. Add the eggs, garlic, parsley, cheese, salt, and pepper to the meat mixture and combine all the ingredients using your fingers to mix uniformly, but do not over mix or the meat will dry out when cooked. Pick up 2 tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball shape, between the palms of your hands. Do this until you have used all the meat. This should yield approximately 24 meatballs.
• 3. Place the remaining olive oil in a heavy skillet and heat over medium flame. Add the meatballs in 1 layer and brown on all sides before removing. Do this to the remaining meatballs until all are browned to a caramelized color. After all the meatballs have been browned and removed from the skillet, add the sausage links and brown well, following the same method as the meatballs. When all the meat has cooked, add to the tomato ragu, which has been cooking for 2 hours and cook an additional hour. Serve the tomato ragu over rigatoni pasta cooked to directions on box. Serve the meats on another plate as a second course or with the pasta. (We always couldn't wait til the second course!)
• 4. NOTE: If using plum tomatoes, make sure using a wooden spoon while cooking, you break up the tomatoes. You can also freeze this in batches and use when needed.
• 5. You can make this sauce your own by adding what herbs you like. Oregano or Basil, All Beef Meatballs if you prefer. My mom did all the combinations. MANGIA!

HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE MEATBALLS WITH CAVATELLI #RAGU

Steps:

• Meatballs: In a bowl mix together, sausage, crumbs, cheese, egg, water, parsley, onion. Mix and form into balls, 1 1/2 inches. Coat in crumbs Yields 16 balls. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 35 minutes.
• Pasta: Cook as directed on package. Drained and added 1 tablespoon of butter.
• Sauce: In a large sauce pan, empty jar of sauce and add Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, dried basil, and honey. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
• Add cavitelli and meatballs to sauce and simmer for 15-20 minutes until heated through.