Gravy!

Half of my "heritage" is southern Italian. My ancestors came over several generations ago, settling in Philadelphia. Somewhere along the line, they came up with the term "gravy" for a tomato based pasta sauce which uses meatball "fond" as the flavor base.


Since moving to Chicago, I've discovered this term is used occasionally here too.


Does anyone know the etymology of this term, "gravy."





Anyways, I grew up with my mother, grandmother, and Aunt making this gravy periodically throughout the year. They would make it on Sundays, serve it for dinner, then freeze the rest, usually enough for 6 or so dinners. I have so many memories of those Sundays: the house had a fantastic aroma of parsely and garlic, the sound of the frying meatballs, the zipping of the blender.

Well, I swore that I'd pass both the recipe and the memories onto my children. So, P and I purchased the veal, beef, pork, garlic, parsley, basil, tomotoes and so forth, and got to work.

I asked M at least 5 times if she wanted to help, or how she liked the smells, or if she wanted to at least watch. Usually she dons her apron and gets overzealous, but this time she was content with playing around the house, barely stepping foot in the kitchen.


Oh well, maybe next time she'll help. She had to have smelled it, right?





Meat mixin'





Meatball fryin'




Tomato blendin'