Sunday Gravy

I think it might be time to share my Sunday Gravy with you.  I mean, we’re friends right?  You’ve been hanging in there with me through all the times when I have dropped off the radar and you’ve cheered me on when I’ve made my comebacks.  I think you deserve Sunday Gravy.

Now if you’re not down with the whole Italian-American thing you might be asking, “What the heck is Sunday Gravy?” Don’t worry, I’m here to help with that.  Sunday Gravy is a slow cooked tomato sauce that uses meat as it’s base.  It’s not a bolognese and it’s not a ragu.  It is still, for me, primarily a tomato sauce and is served over pasta (fresh if at all possible).  Sunday Gravy should make the whole house smell like if you walked into the kitchen you would expect to find a whole clan of Italian Grandmothers stirring the pot.  It is rich and satisfying and one mouthful makes you feel like you’re wrapped up in Grandma’s hand crocheted quilt.  Really.  Sunday Gravy is that good.


There are a lot of recipes out there and there are many methods and if you’ve ever been in a room of Italian women you know damn well that there will be an argument over the “right way” to make Sunday Gravy.  Right way; wrong way who knows what mine is but I’ll tell you this much, if my sauce is wrong, I don’t wanna be right!Sunday Gravy ~ Living the Savory Life

The scale of this recipe doesn’t make a ton of sauce but you can easily double or triple it.  It freezes beautifully though you might need to adjust the flavor a little bit when reheating.  Perhaps best of all, this recipe doesn’t include a long list of ingredients.  I don’t mess around with all different types of tomatoes and tomato paste.  If find that if you cook it long enough it reduces and thickens into the rich hearty sauce gravy you were hoping for.Sunday Gravy ~ Living the Savory Life

In case you were wondering, Sunday Sauce is Sunday Gravy’s vegetarian cousin and someday I’ll get around to telling you about that.  Really though, Sunday Gravy is where my heart is.  Sauce is for Christmas Eve when you don’t eat meat and is what you make for scungilli. Oh the Feast of Seven Fishes!  How do I love thee, let me count the ways.  Yes, yes another thing we need to talk about.Sunday Gravy ~ Living the Savory Life

Before I’m off on too many (even though they’re related) tangents, do you think we should get down to the nitty gritty?  The recipe?  Yea, yea, I’m on board.  Let me just say this one last thing.  From this base recipe feel free to add things like meatballs, sausages, more beef short ribs, pork ribs etc for serving.  Meatballs make the world go round.  Yes, unfortunately, really bad bad pun intended.Sunday Gravy ~ Living the Savory Life

Now people, hop to it!  Get that gravy on the stove!  You can thank me later.

Sunday Gravy ~ Living the Savory Life

A quick note on the canned tomatoes.  I rinse each can with about 1/3 can water and add it to the pot to get all of the tomatoes out of the can.  So by the time I’ve added all three cans I’ve also added 1 can of water.  This gets reduced out over the cooking time.

 

2 Comments

  • Karen (Back Road Journal)

    That is a mighty fine sounding Sunday Gravy made with the beef short ribs, I know I would love it. Yes, we all make it a little different but that is usually made with what our families enjoy. My husband likes meatballs plus hot and sweet sausages. His mother added pork ribs to hers. 🙂

  • Cara

    I can smell grandmom’s kitchen just thinking about it!! Ahhh and the Bonaduse (sp?) Italian bread to sop up the tomato goodness….heaven!

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