Sunday Pasta Dinner

This isn't really a recipe, but more a roadmap for our typical Sunday pasta dinner. All together, you can easily serve 12 people with this meal. Use your favorite version of each recipe from the website (Jimmy's bracciole? Johnny's gravy? Mom's meatballs?). For the meatballs and sausage, use amounts according to what your guests prefer (my kids love meatballs, so I make 3 pounds of meatballs and 2 pounds of sausage). Add a large salad or a nicely sauteed vegetable (brocolli or spinach work well) and some good Italian bread and you're all set!

Gravy (aka Tomato Sauce) - a recipe made with 4, 28-ounce cans of tomatoes is enough

1 recipe of bracciole

2 or 3 pounds of meatballs

2 or 3 pounds of Italian sausage

2 pounds of your favorite pasta (I like rigatoni)

Prepare the bracciole and meatballs according to their recipes, up to the point where you have browned them all. Brown the sausage over medium heat.

After you've made the gravy and brought it to a simmer, add the browned bracciole. Continue simmering the bracciole for about an hour and then add the browned sausage. Let the sausage and bracciole simmer for another half hour and then add the browned meatballs. Simmer for another 1.5 hours so that the bracciole have been simmering in the gravy for a total of 3 hours. If necessary, add hot water to the gravy as the meats simmer to keep the meats submerged.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package so that the pasta and meats are finished cooking at about the same time. Drain the pasta.

Transfer the meats to a large platter and spoon some gravy over the pieces. Transfer the pasta to a large bowl and spoon some gravy over and toss. Sprinkle the pasta with parmesan cheese. Put extra gravy and parmesan on the table. Serve.