Authentic Italian Gravy: Sunday Sausage Meat Sauce

Use 28 ounces of canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes for the Italian gravy. The cooked gravy will have a reddish color. I like to fry Italian-style sausage by cutting up whole sausage links into big chunks and adding a Parmesan cheese rind to the cooked tomatoes for extra flavor.

I prepare sausage in a large cast iron Dutch oven with a wooden spoon, making sure no more than a single layer of sausage is added at a time. Before adding any liquids, I cook the sausage for 4-5 minutes, turning it only once, to brown it well. Turn the sausage and cook for another 3 minutes. Adding too much sausage to the Dutch oven at once will leave the sausage less browned and reduce the amount of browned bits in the pot to clean out.

When the tomato paste is a brick color, add wine and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven. Let the wine cook until it is half reduced and then add tomatoes. I keep the wooden spoon in the pot to prevent the tomato skins from burning onto the enamel surface of the Dutch oven. I stir the tomato skins every 30 minutes to prevent burning.

The pot is covered. Bring to a bubbling boil and simmer for 2 hours over low heat. Turn off the heat and stir in torn basil leaves. Serve over rigatoni or pappardelle. Polenta is another good side dish. For a large gathering, I suggest baking tomatoes filled with cheese to serve alongside the pasta.