How Gabriele Bertaccini Uses Leftovers To Make The Perfect Sunday Sauce

For chef and "Say I Do" TV host Gabriele Bertaccini, his mom's Sunday gravy was a week in the making. And it was always a treat because the gravy — which, among Italians, can mean sauce with meat added — never tasted the same twice, as Bertaccini revealed to Chowhound at the 2024 NYC Wine & Food Fest. 

It wasn't that his mother purposely developed new sauce recipes each week. Rather, he explained, she used up her food leftovers as the meals throughout the week progressed. She'd add "a piece of prosciutto" in one day and then, "a couple of sausages from Tuesday" or "a couple of meatballs that were done on Wednesday" and so on until her basic tomato sauce was transformed into something new by the end of the week. 

Of the experience and the taste of the food, he said, "It was so comforting." There was also a bit of mystery because he never knew what he'd find on his plate come the weekend. The lessons he learned seem to have made an impression on him as a chef. When he makes his own "pomodoro sauce, with tomato San Marzano base," he takes his inspiration from his mom's Sunday gravy.

The celebrity chef refers to two kinds of gravy, red and white. As is common in many Italian households, the mom-and-son duo often made red Sunday gravy, based on pomodoro sauce, for the pasta and for whatever meat was cooked. The meat, which became the main dish, got some extra flavor from the gravy because it was stewed in the sauce before being served. Pomodoro sauce is a popular pairing for pasta, and usually consists of a fresh tomato base, with a bit of fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil. It makes up a good deal of Mediterranean cooking, and is smoother than a classic marinara sauce. It's a less chunky gravy, but always good and refreshing on anything that's flavored with it.

As for making the perfect slow-cooked sauce, Gabriele Bertaccini admitted that it comes from one thing above all else: Patience. Like the Sunday gravy that's a week in the making, the ingredients in a traditional pasta sauce must be given time to blend and meld together. The flavor ultimately "unfolds," he said, as the food cooks. The ability to leave the sauce to its own devices, so to speak, is where the magic happens. As Bertaccini explained, "You just have to set it and forget it and then come back six hours later and see how it is."