Sunday Gravy

I'm not Italian, but I can get behind the idea of Sunday gravy. We had a slider of that name from a stand of that name at Smorgasburg on Sunday and I was inspired to make my own. I gathered all the good looking meats from the store and set out for a long, slow cook. The flavor is so deep and strong and wonderful. I served it with fresh rigatoni but feel free to use your favorite pasta. Also, you can play around with the meat choices. Any traditional braising cuts of beef and pork work well, and some sausage for an extra bit of flavor.

Bucatini All'amatriciana

The bucatini all'amatriciana at Lupa is totally delicious, so when I got my new Kitchen Aid and pasta extruder attachment I immediately broke it out to make fresh bucatini. (I know, I'm a weirdo.) Feel free to just buy bucatini like a normal person, but definitely make the sauce. To save a little time, I also used marinara from Faicco's instead of making the basic tomato sauce the recipe calls for, so that makes it easier. The sauce is rich and tart and has a little kick. It really is wonderful. And if you can't find bucatini or perciatelli, spaghetti will work, too. (And if you can't find guanciale you can use pancetta, but guanciale is definitely better in this.)

I got the recipe from Babbo's recipe archive site. Yum!

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 lb guanciale, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 red onions, cut in half in 1/2" slices
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups marinara sauce
1 big handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 1/2 lb bucatini
Pecorino Romano for grating

Garden Tomato Sauce

My goal for next weekend, along with not totally going crazy over my upcoming nuptials (10 days now!!!) is to make a whole bunch of this amazing tomato sauce and pop it in the freezer. Since our garden is putting out tomatoes faster than we can pick them (literally, every weekend we come out and some have over ripened, burst open, and been eaten by fruit flies or some other little pests), I decided to make some tomato sauce. Yum! It's very simple, you just need a lot of great, ripe, fresh tomatoes. The flavor really is incredible.

Serves 4 - I suggest doubling it if you have enough tomatoes!!!
Ingredients:
1 skillet full of halved and quartered fresh, ripe, summer tomatoes (probably about 5 cups)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large sprigs of basil, plus 1 with leaves removed and cut into a chiffonade
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped and separated
red pepper flakes