Recipe: Sausage and tomato ragu with pasta

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