Sunday Gravy in a Crock Pot: Shortcut or Sacrilege?

A few weeks back I was faced with one of the toughest cooking challenges I’ve ever had to make since starting this blog. It was a beautiful autumn Sunday afternoon, and my wife and I had plans to take our kids to meet up with friends at a neighborhood Fall Festival. We also had a huge craving for a nice pot of Sunday gravy, which we haven’t made in a while. When a hankering for Sunday gravy comes along, there is no turning back.

Knowing that we would be out of the house for a good few hours, spending the time needed to tend to a pot of gravy wasn’t an option. But I was still determined to somehow enjoy my favorite Sunday meal, so much so that I already bought the cans of tomatoes, the beef, pork and veal for the meatballs, and the loaf of crusty Italian bread. With my back up to the wall, I made the crucial decision….I was going to attempt to make my Sunday gravy in a crock pot.

Still a bit shaken and nervous about my decision, I reached out to my Facebook friends to get their opinions. My friend Lorraine Rannali, the Gravy Wars queen, thought I was crazy. Even my cousin – my own flesh and blood – was shocked. But I was determined to conquer my fears and figure this one out.

We’ve all used a crock pot to serve up meatballs at a family party. But this wasn’t just a quick reheat…this was building from the ground up. If you step off of the meatball merry-go-round and think about it, you’re only using a different heating element to warm up a pot. Already I was feeling less nervous, and it was time to get cooking.

The first step that I take when making my Sunday gravy is to heat up some oil and garlic, and then add my tomatoes. Knowing that the crock pot wouldn’t produce the heat needed to warm up the oil, I used some common sense and came up with the practical solution – just heat up some oil and garlic in a small pan over the stove and add it to the tomatoes, Now we’re rolling!

I started by adding my cans of tomatoes to the pot, seasoned it up as I normally would, and then added the heated garlic and oil. The house is smelling good already! I already had the meatballs baking in the oven, and once they were done, I plopped them into the tomatoes and in true old-school fashion (I worked every old-school trick I could think of), I added some of the meatball oils to the pot for a little extra flavor.

Now it was time to head out and hope for the best. I set the pot to the low setting, and off we went to paint pumpkins and stuff scarecrows. Three hours later, we returned and I slowly but anxiously opened the front door. We were greeted with the most beautiful, fragrant smell that any Italian and Italian-American home would be proud of…the smell of Sunday gravy.

Yes friends, you can indeed make Sunday gravy in a crock pot. By following your own traditional recipe, and heating up your oil and garlic in a separate pan, you should have no problems and will not taste a difference. You will have to scale back on the amount that you’re making, as crock pots are much smaller than a regular sauce pot. If you’re making Sunday gravy for a large crowd, leaving the house is probably the furthest thing from your mind anyway!

Saying “Cheese” to New Resolutions!

Another year, another round of New Year resolutions! Since starting this blog back in 2008, most of my resolutions have been food related (learning how to make home made pasta, new challenges with Una Mamma Italiana), and because of this my resolutions have been fun and enjoyable to partake in! This year, I have my cousin Jenny to thank for setting me up with my 2013 food-related resolution. Her Christmas gift to me was a fantastic book called Artisan Cheese Making at Home. The book is very well put together and is a lot of fun to look at – the pictures are absolutely mouth-watering. Everything from ricotta and mascarpone, to créme fraiche and greek yogurt, to cocoa rubbed jack cheese, ale-washed trappist cheese and tips on how to make smoked mozzarella are covered in appetizing detail. Obviously, some of these cheeses can’t even be considered just yet, not only for my lack of skills but for the lack of space and set-up in my basement. But that’s not going to stop me from reading and absorbing this book, attempting what recipes I can handle and sharing with you my journey in cheese making. If anything, I’m looking forward to trying out some of the suggested recipes included in the book…even if I have to sneak over to the 9th Street Market to get my hands on some good quality cheese, wrapped and ready to go.

I also have some other fun ideas in mind for the blog this year. Keep an eye out over the next few months for new recipes featuring:
• risotto
• soups
• pot pies
• pasta dishes
• my kids’ take on panzarotti vs. calzone

Plus…I’ll be joining my friend Carl for a very special home brewing post!

I’ll also be chasing down Una Mamma Italiana for another food challenge or two…and hopefully some other surprise visits from other special contributors.

Thanks again for visiting…here’s to a great and appetizing 2013!

Amatriciana Sauce

This week I’m highlighting a fantastic post from my favorite fellow food blogger, Una Mamma Italiana. It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure to share one of Una Mamma’s recipes with you. What better way to welcome her back to my blog that with a delicious rustic sauce that incorporates pancetta! Check it out and enjoy! And be sure to visit the Una Mamma Italiana for many more amazing recipes!
– Dom

Since I started blogging at Una Mamma Italiana over 3 years ago, I’ve noticed that readers really love the sauce recipes. Whether its my family recipe for Sunday Gravy, Vodka Sauce or Arrabiatta Sauce – these sauces are classics that can usually be made with minimal effort and a big wow factor.

Here is another classic Italian sauce recipe that boasts the amazing flavor of Pancetta! It gets its name from the town of its origin, Amatrice (a super small town in Northern Lazio. We’re talking central Italy, here – the countryside that literally divides the North from the South.) It is a very rustic style sauce.

Pancetta is Italian bacon that is cured with all kinds of salt and yummy spices. It is most often used in recipes for the flavor you get from the fat (who doesn’t love cooking in a good fat!?) on the meat. Some “Med-E-Gones“ substitute regular bacon in recipes such as these. I guess you could do the same, but then you run the risk of breaking my heart (and the hearts of Italians everywhere).

AMATRICIANA SAUCE
3 TB e.v.o.o.
2 oz. pancetta, finely cubed
1 med onion, minced
1 TB minced garlic
pinch of dried oregano
1 can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped or hand crushed
1/2 tsp (to start) curshed red pepper flakes (adjust to your liking)
1 TB julienned fresh basil leaves
salt & pepper to taste

Start with only 2 TB of the olive oil. Use it to brown the pancetta. Once browned, add the onions and garlic, saute over medium heat until soft. Stir in the oregano, hot pepper flakes, and the tomatoes. Bring it to a boil. Simmer until sauce has thickened a bit (around 30 minutes)

At the end, stir in the basil leaves and add more hot pepper/salt/pepper as needed. Stir in the remaining TB of olive oil until emulsified.

Toss with your favorite pasta and top with lots of yummy grated pecorino romano cheese! (my fav) And MANGIA!!

Bow Tie Pasta with Spinach and Salmon in White Wine Sauce

Heavy winds, nasty rain and a bit of Sunday laziness kept me from my usual summer grilling this past weekend. The trade-off was that I was able to spend some quality time in the kitchen preparing a couple of meals for the week. We were in the mood for fish, but I wanted to get a little pasta going as well. I decided to saute some spinach and salmon in white wine sauce, and mix it with bow tie pasta. The dish was quick and delicious…the perfect cure for a blah-zy Sunday afternoon!

Bow Tie Pasta with Salmon And Spinach in White Wine Sauce

1 lb bow tie pasta
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and strained
2 6-oz salmon fillets
4 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
olive oil (to drizzle on salmon)
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
reserved pasta water (about a half cup or so)
breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese for topping

1. Season the salmon with some salt. pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Place salmon in a foil-lined baking dish, bake at 375º for about 30-35 minutes, until flaky. Remove from oven, flake and set aside.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Just before you’re ready to add the pasta to the boiling water, melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the pasta to the boiling water.

3. Add the shallots to the butter, stir. Let simmer until translucent, for about a minute. Next, add the wine to the butter and shallots, stir. Let simmer for a few minutes, to allow the alcohol to burn off.

4. Add the chopped spinach and flaked salmon to the wine sauce, mix well. Most of the wine sauce will be absorbed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm in pan until pasta is al dente.

5. Remove pasta from water, reserving about a half cup or so of pasta water. In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the salmon and spinach mixture. Slowly add a bit of the pasta water, one ladle at a time, to your liking.

6. Plate the pasta, top with some breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

Serve with crusty Italian bread and white wine!