Crockpot Italian Gravy

Sorry, I have not been great about taking pictures, but the way things have been going if I waited to take a picture, every time I posted I would post even less than I do now. I have been doing a farm share this summer for meat, cheese and veggies. While it has been great, I have found small servings of meat in my freezer that I am wondering what to do with. I think other night I found a solution. I found some beautiful spare ribs from the Farm Institute on Martha's Vineyard in my freezer. I was going to grill them but the portions were pretty small, and mostly bone. I remember my in-laws telling me that there mother used them for her Italian gravy. Then I went through my freeze, found some single vacaum sealed sausages, I did fill in with some stuff from Stop and Shop but created quite a good meat sauce. I found  a recipe on Food Network for crockpot gravy, but by the time I read the reviews I changed it so much that I can claim it as my own.  It was real easy and fed a lot of people. I know I am a little a obsessed with my crockpot, but  with baby number 2 on the way I am sure there will be a lot more crockpot entries. I had to use an extra step, but worth it, is browning the meat and sauteing the veggies, but you can handle it. I have a a great crockpot that I splurged on from Williams and Sonoma, an All Clad. It has a ceramic insert, but if I had held out the newest model has a cast iron insert where you can brown the meat and veggies in the same pot with less dishes to do. I have found for most crockpot recipes that browning the meat and onions before makes a difference. It is another step but worth it. This is a great dish for a crowd and you can freeze the left overs.

Crockpot Italian Gravy
printable recipe
inspired by the Food Network Kitchens
Olive Oil
2-4 lbs of meat (whatever you like, ie. Italian sausage, meatballs, spareribs cut into pieces, beef shins)
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tbs of tomato paste (if you look around at your grocery store you can find tomato paste in a tube rather than a can, more expensive but worth it because you can refrigerate the leftovers for less waste)
1/2 cup of red wine
2 28oz. cans of tomato sauce (you could crush whole tomatoes, but I like mine a little soupy)
1 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes ( I try to buy them in a box when I can find them)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Suggested pasta: rigatoni or ziti

1.  Using a stock pot or a dutch oven heat oil (about 1 tbs.) on medium high. Once hot, sprinkle meat with salt and pepper and brown meat in batches so that it browns rather than steams. After browning put meat in crock pot.
2. Add an additional tbs. of oil and cook onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds then add tomato paste. Cook for about 1 minute. You want to take to the crunch out of the vegetables.
3. You are going to use the wine to deglaze the pan, letting it steam and scrap up brown bits, about a minute.  Once finished add mixture to the crook pot.
4. Add sauce and tomatoes to crook pot along with bay leave. Add a little sauce and pepper.
5. Cook on low for 8 hours, check on it if you can you want meat tender and you may have to adjust time depending on your crook pot. Some run hotter than others.
6. Once finished skim any fat off the top and adjust seasoning.