How to make a da gravy

How to make meat sauce or "gravy."

Fry up two big onions in olive oil. I like the white ones. They're a little more expensive though. Don't fry em long though. Just brown them but keep em firm.

Fry up a few pounds of 80% ground beef. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed hot red pepper. Throw the onions back in after it is about half browned, along with a package of sliced baby bella mushrooms. Do not drain the fat.

Tomatos. Only use whole canned tomats, hand crushed. Never use paste, puree, crushed, diced. They use the shittier tomats from the crop for the processed stuff. I use Tuttorosso brand usually. Not much more than store brand and they're on sale a lot. Use three or four cans, like I said, hand crushed. I use a few cans of the "with basil" too. Bring to a boil than shovel in your meat, onions, shrooms and a few cloves of fresh garlic. I use a few big hunks of elephant garlic. I also put in a great big swirl of red wine. Carlo Rossi "Paisano."

Now keep in mind you can add other stuff too if you like. I don't ususally add sweet peppers because of the skin, some like peppers, so maybe skin em or deal with skins in there. You can fry up some sausages to throw in there. Veal is really good and not too expensive these days for a bone-in veal chop. Pan fry that in some olive oil and throw the whole thing right in. Some chunks of pork. Pork is big with Italians. They've got great pigs in Italy. But here in America, I say beef is where it's at.

Now you're gonna have to let all that simmer away for 4-6 hours, stirring frequently. I always hear Ray Liotta playing Henry Hill in Goodfellas, "Don't let the sauce stick." I've got a great big flat bottomed non-stick wok that I use (bought it at Kmart), but you still gotta keep stirring it. Toward the end add some sugar and maybe another splash of wine. Then once it is really thickened up and just about done, add some oregano, maybe a little more black pepper, and some other seasonings if you like. When it's ready, it should be really thick and it will have darkened quite a bit. I dunno, it just hits a sort of "popping point" when I know it's ready.

Now spoon that over a big mound of pasta. Serve with salad and some garlic bread. Or you could really go all out and spoon it over a big tray of ziti to bake with ricotta, mozzerella, provolone and parmesan. I ususally try to layer it. Pasta sauce cheese, more pasta sauce cheese, alternating the cheeses.

I think meat sauce is probably may favorite food. If I forgot any steps here I'll stop back and revise.