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.

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

I'd been wanting to try making tomato sauce in the slow cooker. It's so easy and you get a really rich tomato flavor. 

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