Monday, July 24, 2023

SUNDAY GRAVY

 I made a big batch of Sunday Gravy yesterday.

This isn't a photo of it but it resembles it.




Now I know what you're thinkin'.

That doesn't look like gravy.

And that proves to me that you're not Italian.

Italian-American, to be exact.

Now this recipe isn't exactly Sunday Gravy because it doesn't have several kinds of meat in it, as traditional recipes do.

It's just a ground beef pasta sauce that includes onion and peppers and garlic and basil and tomatoes and tomato sauce and tomato paste and salt and pepper and a slash of red wine, simmered on the stove top for an hour or two.

Gadfrey!

Now I'm hungry again.

But the name Sunday Gravy came about because Italian nonnas (grandmothers) used to fix it after mass on Sundays, filling their houses with wonderful aromas.

Mine was delicious, served over some rainbow rotini yesterday.



This is sorta what our skies have been looking like this morning as promising thunder has been rumbling.

But so far, we've had no rain here today.

The last two storms to come through my part of town have been pretty violent, with tons of rain and high winds.

The drainage ditch alongside the street in front of the house has been running bankfull a couple of times.

We need the rain but a gentler downpour would be appreciated.

And that's how my week is starting.

What's new at your place?

19 comments:

  1. Years ago, the first time I heard spaghetti sauce referred to as gravy I was really confused. Now I know better.

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  2. My Dad called it gravy too. My mom called it sauce.Both 100% Italian but from different places I guess is the reason. But we didn't use ground beef in our sauce. But it looks good!! I call it sauce too. I made a big ole pot Saturday and we had a contractor here for estimates and he kept saying, "it sure smells good" I think he wanted some but it wasn't ready yet. :-)
    We here in NC are in hell. I can't wait for temps for winter!! You being in Arizona I'm certain you are dealing with the same. Here's to gravy and cooler days ahead!

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    1. Yes, it is hot here but we are used to it. Plus our monsoon has begun and we've had rain a few times and more predicted today. Yay for rain!

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  3. The gravy looks wonderful. That is one of the few things my father made. As a kid it was fascinating to see him in the kitchen, but soon the aromas told me that something great was on the way. He learned while in the Army, learning from an Italian who happened to be their unit's "cookie." When I make the sauce I always use San Marzano tomatoes. I think they are the most favorable and they have less acid, so easier on my stomach. Do you remember the great "gravy" at Iaria's on the Indpls near southside, in the old Italian neighborhoods. It was a little place next to a duck pin bowling alley. They had a great menu item-a grilled Italian sausage on a an Italian hard crust bread, covered with melted parmesan and cut for dipping in the side bowl of gravy?

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    1. I don't remember that restaurant but the sandwich sounds wonderful!

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  4. 2 deer traveling through my front yard nibbling on the aspen trees!

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  5. You have made me hungry for some good spaghetti with homemade sauce.

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  6. If you're trying to make me hungry, you succeeded!

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  7. In Australia that would be a bolognese sauce to be served over pasta. Here, gravy is just a thickened brown sauce, no lumps, no added meats. If serving over cooked sausages it might have browned onions in it.

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    1. Yes, it is a simple bolognese sauce and the gravy I grew up with is the same as yours. But my mother was Norwegian!

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    2. My parents were German with Polish and Swedish ancestry.

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  8. Looks pretty enticing to me. Even at breakfast time. 😀

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  9. Mmmm - I have a friend from Philadelphia who calls that gravy too. I would love to have some for lunch!

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  10. That looks great and now I'm hungry too.
    My sister told me it rained really hard last week. She hates the wind.

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    1. Yes, we had a couple of days of hard rain and high winds. I hate the wind too but like I always say "It's Prescott Valley. What did you expect?"

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  11. I would put that gravy on everything! It looks and sounds fabulous. We did get a bit of rain so I'm not as worried about watering. That's good since my water bill was $30 more than normal.

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  12. Taylor does not sound like an Italian name but hey, what do I know?

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  13. thecontemplativecat here. We would love having some rain several times a week. Wildfires are just around the corner.

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