This is a Sunday supper kind of dish, as it's best if it simmers for a long time.
This is a very thoughtful use of giblets and works best paired with ground meat. Be sure to use dried mushrooms, as you want mushroom soaking water. Ideally, use porcini, but morels or any "woodland mix" you buy in the supermarket is fine.
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce of dried mushrooms
- 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 1 large garlic clove, chopped
- 1 lb. of minced giblets
- 4 ounces of ground beef, pork, chicken, lamb, or turkey
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt to taste
- A few gratings of nutmeg, about 1/2 teaspoon
- 3 to 5 whole cloves, or 1/4 teaspoon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 quart whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 1 cup sweet sherry or Marsala wine
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- Black pepper to taste
- • Grated cheese for garnish
Instructions:
- Break up the mushrooms and submerge them in 1 to 2 cups of hot water. Let them sit while you proceed.
- Pulse the onion, celery, carrot and garlic in a food processor until you get somewhere between a fine mince and a paste. Don't puree it. Set the vegetables aside in a bowl.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-lidded pot set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the giblets and the ground meat. Brown them well, sprinkling some salt over them as they cook. When they are close to being done, stop stirring them so a browned crust forms on the bottom of the pan. When it forms, remove the meats and set aside.
- Add the vegetables to the pot. Let the moisture from the vegetables soften the meat crust in the pot. Salt them as they cook. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned bits. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables soften well, and then let another crust form.
- While the vegetables are cooking, mince the mushrooms. Keep the water the mushrooms were soaking in.
- When the crust has reformed in the pot, add the mushrooms and the cup of sherry. Use the wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits again. Let all the sherry cook away until yet another crust forms.
- Add the nutmeg, bay leaves, cloves, and 1 cup of the mushroom soaking water. Scrape up the crust one last time.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and add the juice/sauce from the jar of whole tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes by hand into the pot. Return the meats to the pot, stir well, add salt to taste and simmer, partially covered, for at least 90 minutes. You want the gizzard bits to be fairly tender.
- To finish, get your water boiling for the pasta.
- Turn the heat to low on the sauce and add the cream. Bring the sauce back to a bare simmer and when the pasta is ready, grind black pepper over the sauce.
- Serve over cooked pasta with a garnish of freshly grated cheese.