Here’s To A Tasty Celebration Of Mobster Meals!
Time to bite into the greatest film ever made, Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”…by making Clemenza’s Meatballs that are featured in the film!
Aside from being the single greatest movie ever made, the film deals with the Mob – gangsters who lived large, and ate well too!
Time For A Special “DINNER IN A MOVIE!“
Behold Clemenza’s Meatballs!
“The Godfather” is chock full of food – family meals, wedding cakes, executions that take place in a diner that serves “the best veal”…food in this film is a vital part of life, and death. For example, Don Corleone’s daughter Connie makes a meal for her obnoxious husband, who announced that he’ll eat out later – you know, with his mistress…
Connie goes into a fit and flings the dinnerware around the house, causing her husband to beat her…what we find out later is that this was instigated for one reason: to lure Sonny out of his compound, and to one of the many iconic death scenes in the movie: at the toll booth.
Time To “Go To The Mattresses!”
When this leads to the five families re-igniting a mob war, they go “to the mattresses”, which means they all sleep in one place to be ready for battle at any time.
For the scene where Clemenza is cooking, Francis Ford Coppola originally wrote in the script, “Clemenza browns some sausage”. Upon seeing this, the book’s Author Mario Puzo crossed out “browns” and replaced it with “fries”, writing in the margin, “Gangsters don’t brown.”
Clemenza teaches Mikey how to make Sunday sauce for this house full of guys…here is the scene, and the recipe – first, the scene from the movie, courtesy of “The Godfather” blu-ray!
And here is that recipe again, courtesy of Clemenza:
“Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh? And a little bit o’ wine. An’ a little bit o’ sugar, and that’s my trick.”
Let’s Get Cooking With Clemenza!
Here’s the recipe from the film:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large (28-ounce) cans tomatoes (whole, crushed or chopped)
1 (10-ounce) or 2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste
3 to 4 Italian sausages, grilled and sliced
1 pound cooked meatballs (use your favorite recipe)
Dry red wine
¼ cup sugar
Hot cooked pasta
First, take whatever ground meat you like and add some fresh minced garlic and onion, plus some italian herbs….roll those into meatballs and sear them off in a pan…now, make the sauce.
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes; do not let the garlic burn. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously so that a relatively smooth consistency is reached.
Add sausages and meatballs. Stir until the meat is coated. Add a splash of red wine, then the sugar, according to taste. As you can see, Clemenza is very serious about making a good meal for his men…
Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Serve over hot cooked pasta.
And whatever you do, don’t insult the head of the family when it comes time to eat:
Just make the meatballs and some pasta, put in the movie’s special edition blu-ray, and enjoy!
Now, back to the infamous scene when Clemenza listens as a guy is shot, then says “leave the gun. Take the Cannoli.”
You can find Cannoli everywhere at New York’s annual Feast of San Gennaro, underway now:
The legendary Lucy’s has several stalls on the 7 block festival on mulberry Stree in New York’s Little Italy – always packed with people wanted a sausage with grilled onion and peppers on a roll – check this out:
Those are sausages cooking up with grilled peppers and onions, and there are Braciole being made as well…see all the food here!
Want a happier “dinner and a movie?” How about one of the best animated films of all time – and it was all about food!
I made the dish of the same name as the classic Disney Pixar film – about a rat named Remy who turned out to be a great chef!
Remy makes an incredible “Ratatouille” in the film, and so I made it at home!
I have made it several times and you can to – just click here for the recipes and cooking instructions!
My “Dinner And A Movie” series looks at some of the most iconic food from film and replicates the dish!
Pasta Pie, Anyone?
Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalom made this incredible “Timpano” for the film “Big Night” – so I did as well!
Yum! If you want to see how I pulled this off, just click my story here:
I also shared this terrific “Eggs In A Hole” recipe thanks to Cher:
Click here for a delicious dish from the great comedy “Moonstruck!”
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, Eat This!, Food, Movies, Recipes, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Ha! Gansters don’t brown! Hysterical! I should watch the Godfather. I never have!
HA! It is my favorite film of all time…it’s really not an action movie, it’s the story of a family – and then of course “five families” as they are all mob families. It’s brilliant in every way and there is a love of food that is palpable, like this moment in the film when one Mobster teaches The Godfather’s son how to make huge portions of spaghetti and meatballs for his guys preparing for a gang war!
The meatballs look amazing. One question though. If I do my best Clemenza impression, do the cannolis come along for the ride too. Ha, ha. Love it.
HA! I love that line and I really enjoyed this recipe, because Coppola took the time in the film to explain it, because food was such an important part of the movie in some ways
The Godfather Trilogy is the gift that keeps on giving. I recently re-watched Godfather 2, and it’s still just wonderful, no matter how many times I have seen it.
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes Pete, that is a brilliant film indeed…I put them together at the top of my list but some purists chastise me for it so I dont mention it any more! I even watched Coppola’s re-edit of Part 3 and it’s better, but the lack of Duvall (for money reasons) and his daughter (because of Mynona Ryder’s withdrawal from the film) are tough to overcome…oh and as someone said recently about Part 3, Michael went from dark and brooding to the “who ahh!” of his later acting and they are right…that scene of him gobbling down a candy bar due to diabetes is NOT how Michael would ever have acted in the previous films…he got cartoonish…
Part 3 does reward some rewatches of the different versions. I watched this last year, and found it satisfying, despite Pacino beginning to slide into his later bluster. My favourite Pacino gangster role is still in ‘Donnie Brasco’, where his acting made me feel sad for Lefty.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_godfather_coda_the_death_of_michael_corleone
It’s my favourite film too. Every time I watch it I tell Sonny not to stop at that checkpoint…
HA! He should listen to you – that is such a powerful moment in a film filled with them! Thanks for your comment1
They all look so young!
That’s a great observation!
Hi John, this all looks great. I made ratatouille yesterday. It’s a favorite of mine.
I need to make that agin as well..my wife loved it, so do I, and it’s such a deliciously healthy side dish! Thanks you’ve inspired me to make it tonight!
👍🏻😊