Sunday 'O rrau in Naples

Buona Domenica,

The weather is not very nice today, a bit dark but I will give you a nice recipe for a Sunday lunch as we used to have in Sorrento at my Nonna's house when I was a child.
Sunday in Italy is a very important day and most people spend it with their family, and most of the times all the grannies and mums are preparing the food.
Every region has his own traditional recipe and they change from town to town, in the south and in the area of Naples Sunday is the day of a slow cooked tomato and meat dish ( 'O rrau), it has veal and pork of different cuts.
Today I will give a version that is best when you try it the first time, but in the future you can add, Italian sausage, meat balls, and cotica (rolled up pig skin stuffed with different ingredients), and the braciola (rolled up steak stuffed with garlic, pine nuts, parsley, raisin and much more). You have to know that this recipe is hundreds of years old, and when in the old days people couldn't afford too much on a festive day they will prepare this one pot dish that was good to flavour the pasta,  and eat the meats with some vegetable for a main course.

The recipe is 'O rrau , meat ragout

For four
500gr. of Veal  in large chunks (not expensive cuts)
6 pork ribs (meaty ones)
7-8 tablespoon of e.v. olive oil
two glasses red wine
1 litre of passata (tomato sauce)
a bunch of basil
two tablespoon of tomato puree
2 medium white onions

Start with a very large casserole and heat the oil, add the meats and start browning and then add the onion that you need to chop thinly and cook until it starts to be very brown and all meats are sealed, you then add your wine and cook it until all alcohol  is evaporated.
You then dissolve the tomato puree in  a glass of warm water and add to the casserole, cook for 3 minutes and add the tomato passata, some salt (not too much because you can always add more but never take it out) and the basil, then stir with a wooden spoon and leave on a very low heat for minimum of three hours.
Make sure you stir often and make sure the sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pan, taste for seasoning and make sure that it is of a very dark brown colour, you can then use the tomato sauce for the pasta and eat the meats after with some sides like roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic, peas with pancetta and onions, or whatever you like.
Buon appetito and have a great Sunday

Peppe