Sunday Gravy

Some people regard it as a sacred thing and some people regard it as a family tradition, consistent and reliable. Some people will argue to the death that it is to be called, “gravy” or more appropriately, “The Gravy” while many other confused individuals will contend that gravy is brown and the red stuff that flows over pasts or what gravy lovers call macaroni (that’s another story) is sauce.

In any event, here’s my take on the Calabrese Sunday gravy. There may be variations from family member to family member, but this is your guide to that delectable, slow simmering, bread dipping, molten bubbling Sunday concoction.

Ingredients:

One Large Onion (large yellow or sweet)

Dried Oregano (believe it or not, dry is better than fresh)

Fresh Sweet Basil (dried is fine if you can’t get the fresh stuff)

1-2 bay leaves

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

2 cans of Pastene ground peeled tomatoes

2 cans Tuttarosa ground peeled tomatoes

1.5 pounds of sweet Italian sausage
.5 pound of hot Italian sausage
One small pork butt (stop freaking out, it’s the shoulder)
1 half bulb of garlic (fresh, not dried, powdered or that disgusting crap you get in a jar)
3 cups red wine (doesn’t have to be expensive stuff, 2 cups for the sauce, one for you while you’re cooking)

Process:

Get up early as you’ll want this to be simmering by about 9:00

Put on some nice classical or Italian music. Sinatra’s nice, Bennett or Bocelli work well too.

Pour a glass of wine (yes, I know it’s only 8:00 in the morning, but it’s Sunday and you’re making pretend you’re Italian…actually you’re making pretend you’re an alcoholic)

Mince the garlic with a sharp knife and place in a heavy stockpot that has a healthy drizzle of olive oil (not extra virgin as it has a low smoke point). Let the garlic slowly cook on your stoves lowest setting. (It may not even look like it’s cooking at first, but trust me that cooking is slow will mellow out the flavor and bring out the garlic’s natural sweetness.)

In another pan brown the pork butt (cut it up into smaller chucks, but not too small)

Once all sides of the pork butt are browned, take out of the pan and reserve.
Brown all sides of the sausage
Once your garlic has softened take it out of the pot, but keep as much of the oil as possible.
Chop the onion into 1 inch pieces and place into olive oil. Slowly cook until softened. Don’t let it brown.
Pour another glass of wine
Once the onions are softened, place the sausage and pork in the pan
Add the four cans of tomatoes
Pour approximately two cups of the wine into one of the empty tomato cans and swirl to get remaining tomatoes, repeat with the other three cans.
Add the softened garlic
Add wine into pot with other ingredients
Add oregano (about a table spoon)
Add dried basil (about a tablespoon) If you’re using fresh, add to sauce once the cooking is complete
Add salt, pepper to taste
Add bay leaf (some people pull these out at the end of cooking. My family always kept it in. If it ended up on your plate when you were eating, it meant you’d have good luck, and you wouldn’t have to help doing the dishes. Sometimes we’d reverse it, and you’d have to do all the dishes! I almost choked myself trying to hide the fact that I got the Bay Leaf once…that was last week)

 

Bring all ingredients to a boil then lower the heat to a slow simmer. Stir periodically, taste constantly.

My gravy is usually simmering on the stove for 4 hours or so.
Walk by periodically and dip bread in to taste
Keep listening to music and keep drinking wine.  

Eggs in Purgatory

One other thing we like to do is something called “eggs in purgatory.” This works a little better when the gravy is cold.
Take a deep roasting pan and add enough gravy so it’s about an inch and a half to two inches deep in the pan.
With a spoon, create a little hole in the gravy and gently crack a raw egg to fill the hole. Repeat so you have 4 to 6 (depending upon how many people you’re feeding
Place in preheated 375 degree oven and cook till eggs are softly cooked through
Take out of oven and sprinkle parmesan cheese
Serve with thick cut grilled bread (on the barbecue so you get those cool grill marks)

 

Enjoy!