Back in my hometown, Utica New York and often called little Italy, my family made a special sauce with meat and fresh tomatoes.
After simmering the sauce (you can use either a slow cooker or now instant pot) mom only made this on the stovetop, this special over the top flavored style chunky bolognese sauce was perfection.
Mom made her own homemade sausage, meatballs, and sauce from scratch, but you can substitute already made frozen kinds if you like.
There are even other options for vegetable suggestions you can add depending on what you prefer.
Served over linguine it's absolutely delicious.
Mom always made regular tomato sauce and occasionally this was a nice change for our Sunday dinner.
I loved all the pasta dishes she created like pasta ceci, baked cavatelli, pasta fagioli, quick lasagna, and a favorite Italian goulash.
We always had the usual breakfast on Sunday morning with homemade tomato pie,
fried meatballs, and when she made this sauce with our favorite pasta we always looked forward to it.
Thursdays were always leftover pasta day, but we rarely had leftovers!
Scroll down to the recipe card for this hearty meal, it's old world and vintage!
What Makes This So Good?
The flavors in this sauce are rich with meat, peppers, and chunks of tomatoes.
We always looked forward to this hearty sauce over pasta.
My favorite pasta was spaghetti with this, however, any pasta will be great.
Mom usually made it with whatever we had in the house and most of the time, it was baby shells or bowtie pasta.
Back in the 1960s, I would run to the kitchen to watch her make this, I love the smell of this frying with garlic, it was so comforting.
Utica New York and A Little Story
Growing up in an all Italian family, meals often had tomatoes, peppers, and meat in it.
This bolognese style sauce was a stick to your ribs meal, especially during the cold winter months.
We looked forward to the onset of fall to enjoy a big plate of this pasta dish with a hot loaf of crusty homemade loaf of Italian bread from the oven.
If you grew up during tough times, everything was made from scratch and regardless the best of times too.
The times we spent were priceless and memorable, and my mom was one who would feed anyone in the neighborhood.
We had peaceful time back then and a simple meal and simple days were enjoyed by many.
Meats To Use
- ground sirloin or other ground meats like lamb or turkey
- loose sweet, mild or hot sausage
- ground pork
- cubes of steak, chicken, lamb, leftover meats or any kind or pork
Ingredients for Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce
- plum tomatoes
- tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
- green peppers
- sausage links sliced
- ground sirloin
- garlic cloves finely minced
- granulated garlic
- Cabernet or Merlot
- salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
- chopped fresh basil, parsley
- dried oregano
- olive oil
- grated cheese
- Favorite pasta of choice cooked to package instructions
- Options to add to the sauce
- Sliced onions, cubed eggplant, zucchini, fennel, celery, mushrooms sliced, grated carrots, freshly shucked peas
Pasta and Sauce Additions
- Any shaped pasta will be fine
- Onions
- Cubed eggplant
- Cubed zucchini
- Freshly shucked peas
- Fennel chopped
- Chopped celery
- Grated carrots add sweetness
- mushrooms
- hot peppers
- fresh spinach
Pin for later Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce
More Recipes To Try:
Chicken Chickpeas in Sauce over pasta
Rosemary Chicken
Italian baked Chicken
Italian Cacciatore
Don't Miss Trying This Sauce!
If you want pure comfort food with hearty pasta, this will warm you up all winter long.
The pasta is brimming with flavors that are hard to beat.
It can almost be a pasta sauce stew it's so rich and tasty.
Let me know how you like this recipe.
Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce is always a great addition to any Italian sauce recipe!
Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce
Yield: 6
prep time: 20 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 20 M
A hearty meal with sausage, ground sirloin and flavored with peppers and garlic. This is a comfort meal mom made all year long.
ingredients:
- 2 lbs plum tomatoes put through food processor leaving chunks
- 1 - 28 ounce can of either tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
- 2 green peppers sliced thin
- 2 lbs sausage links sliced into chunks click here for the homemade sausage recipe
- 1 1/2 pound ground sirloin or other ground meat you prefer
- 4 garlic cloves finely minced or more
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 cup Cabernet or Merlot
- salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh basil, parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- olive oil
- grated cheese
- Favorite pasta of choice cooked to package instructions
- Options to add to the sauce ( around 1 cup ):
- Sliced onions, mushrooms sliced, cubed eggplant, cubed zucchini, fennel, celery, grated carrots, freshly shucked peas (you can always use leftover meatballs and sausage if you have it from Sunday Sauce!
instructions:
How to cook Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce
- In a large 5 quart saucepan, add 1/4 cup oil, saute garlic (and onions if using) 1 minute then add the meats and chunks of sausage till almost all the pink is gone then add the peppers, granulated garlic and saute another 2 minutes. (If using an instant pot saute the meat to instructions until browned.
- If using a slow cooker, (or instant pot use the sear method first), sear on the stovetop first until sausage and beef browns.)
- Add all the rest of the ingredients that you desire and simmer on low heat for around 2 1/2 hours or more for the stovetop until sauce is thick.
- If using a slow cooker (or instant pot place on pressure cook mode for 35 minutes) around 6 to 8 hours on low for slow cooker.
- Boil and cook your favorite pasta to package instructions., always adding salt to the water.
- Drain; do not rinse the pasta, (the sauce sticks better to it).
- Place the pasta in a bowl or plate and add the sauce on top of the pasta. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese.
Calories
325
325
Fat (grams)
29
29
Sat. Fat (grams)
18
18
Carbs (grams)
22
22
Net carbs
17
17
Sugar (grams)
9
9
Pin for later Mom's East End Sausage Pasta Sauce
Other Stew Recipes
Meatball StewString Bean Stew
Italian Stew
One Pot Chicken Stew
Julia Child Stew
Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2017. It was edited and re-published in 2021.