Sunday was all about family getting together, laughing, talking, and feasting for hours. Mom usually made fresh homemade ravioli the day before. I loved helping her. It was my job to crimp the edges once they were filled and formed. She would air dry them overnight on her "pasta" board.
It always was the day's favorite course, mom's ravioli and a bowl of traditional pasta, both served with her hardy "gravy" (Italian's name for red meat sauce). It was an array of meats simmering in tomato sauce for hours; mild and hot Italian sausages, meatballs, and a variety of beef, pork, veal and pig skin braciola. She often added veal shank, the most tender of all the cooked meats.
Multiple platters filled with these elaborate meats accompanied the pasta along with bowls of additional gravy and freshly grated well aged imported parmigiana and Romano cheeses. Everything served prior and after was spectacular, but this always was best. Mom would say, "don't each too much, you won't have room for the main course"; the best of problems to have!
My family made meatballs exclusively with ground beef. Although fashionable to add other types of meats, mom claimed that beef offered the best favor. Other meats were already in her sauce.
Proportions of beef, eggs and breadcrumbs will determine the texture of meatballs. I find a ratio of 1 pound of ground with 3 eggs and enough breadcrumbs (about a cup) gives them the right texture. Meatballs made with fewer eggs and corresponding breadcrumbs cook too hard.
Braciola is simply flat meat, pounded to roughly a 1/4 inch, stuffed, rolled and tied with butcher's twine. Like everything else Italian, exact ingredients vary among families, but most include lots of chopped parsley, grated parmigiana and/or Romano cheeses and often include slices of prosciutto, or small hunks of Abruzzi sausage, imported pepperoni, or salami. Some also added sliced hard-boiled egg (we didn't).
For beginners, I would recommend a sauce made with meatballs, sausages and pork braciola. You could make it even easier by substituting the pork braciola with several country style pork ribs, but you would miss a real treat.
Sauce
Italian Sausages
Meatballs
Pork Braciole
*Instead of basil leaves, you can use a "bouquet garni". Tie several stems of basil leaves with butchers twine. Remove after the sauce is finished. Cooking will extract the flavor without leaves in the finished sauce.
Lucia always said you can never have too much basil in her "gravy".