When Italian Americans refer to a tomato-meat sauce as gravy this is what they're talking about. Inundated with sausage, wine, and meat broth, it is a sauce distilled from meat -- cooked so slowly that the essences of meat and tomato literally merge. To the uninitiated, conditioned by commercial pasta sauces to believe that meat sauce is just a tomato sauce flavoured with meat, this brush with authenticity is a revelation. Try it at your own risk; you may never be able to go back to jarred meat sauce again.

Servings
(1 1/2 quarts sauce)
4-6

Precook
10 minutes

Slow cook
4 to 5 hours on high, or 8 to 10 hours on low in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker

At the end
10 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds mild Italian sausage, cut into 2-inch lengths
2 medium onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into ｽ-inch dice
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
Pinch of ground allspice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups chicken broth or beef broth
1 can (about 28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (about 15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 pound short pasta, such as penne, ziti, or rigatoni
Directions
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium high heat. Brown the sausage on all sides and transfer to a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker.

Add the onion, celery, and carrots to the oil remaining in the skillet, and saute until lightly browned. Add the garlic, rosemary, allspice, salt, and pepper and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the broth, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce and stir to incorporate, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and blending with the sauce. Heat to simmering and pour over the sausages. Cover the cooker and cook for 4 to 5 hours on high, or 8 to 10 hours on low.

Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling lightly salted water until tender, about 10 minutes; drain and serve with the ragu.

What else?
• If you like your sauce spicy, replace half the sausage with hot Italian sausage or add a pinch of red pepper flakes with the salt and pepper.
• You can replace half the sausage with ground meat (beef, veal, pork, or a combination) for a thicker sauce.
• This sauce is great rewarmed, and it freezes well.

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From Art of the Slow Cooker. Published by Chronicle Books. Copyright © 2009 by Andrew Schloss. All rights reserved.  Reprinted by permission of Chronicle Books.