Tuesday Recipe: My take on Old World Gravy, Spaghetti

If you are to look through a traditional Italian cookbook, eat at restaurant, or go to Italy, one of the things you will find different from us, is they call spaghetti sauce, gravy. The biggest thing to remember with Italian cooking is: fresh ingredients, time and a whole lot of love.

What you need:
Enough fresh tomatoes to fill your crock pot
1 shallot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
About half a bulb of garlic, diced
2 Cups of bone broth
1 cup of a good red wine
2 Small cans of tomato paste, if you like your gravy thicker
Half a bunch of parsley
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Rosemary
Marjourne
Sea salt and pepper
Beef and liver

Method:
Dice all of the tomatoes and put into the crock pot. Put in some sea salt, this will help to bring the juices out of the tomatoes, 1-2 tsp. Bring this mixture to a simmer and allow to simmer for about 12 hours. Then, put in all the other ingredients expect for the beef/liver. If you like a thicker gravy, add 1 or 2 cans of tomato paste.  Let simmer for a good 12 hours, I said time, remember. Keep an eye on this for the duration of cooking, stirring every so often and watching the fluid levels. If it gets to dry, add more tomatoes, broth or wine. An hour or two before serving, check the flavor and adjust as needed. Just before serving, dice up a few more cloves of garlic and stir them in.
Cook the meat how ever you would like, as ground beef or meat balls. When I cooked my meat, I did season it with all of the seasonings I put into the gravy. You can either put the meat into the gravy or serve it separately.
I served our gravy over spaghetti squash.
For garnish, add some type of cheese if you would like, cheddar, Asiago, Parmesan, our favorites.

This gravy can also be used for lasagna, risotto, pizza/meatzza, whatever suits your fancy or you need a tomato sauce.

Most importantly, enjoy your labor of love with family and friends.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God's many blessings,
Jenn