Tomatoe Gravy

Ok well here is the 4th installment of the dinner I made last weekend. It started with the biscuits, then the rice, then what to do with the leftover biscuits and now it ends with the gravy. Tomato gravy and Brown tomato gravy are the same except with brown you burn a little flour before you pour in the tomatoes so it thickens up a bit. It also happens to be my favorite. We always ate brown in the morning and regular at night. I am not sure why but that's is how it was. I have researched this and found that it's a very common southern food. There is also lots of variations from adding onion, bell pepper to tomato sauce and sugar?! anyways here is my moms recipe which it is from my Big Mama just like the biscuits. It can be made with either canned tomatoes from the store or home canned tomatoes which is how we always had it. Its almost cheaper to just buy things at the store these days. I bought the huge can of tomatoes shown below for less than $3 at Costco last week.

I would not buy the Italian style tomatoes or tomatoes with anything else in them. These are just plain whole Roma tomatoes and they had great flavor so it made a really nice gravy.

Start by frying slices of bacon or bacon ends. Bacon ends are better because you get more fat content which yields more grease which makes more flavor! Fry the bacon until its crispy but not burnt. This will ruin your grease. Remove the bacon and set to the side in a dish until we need it later. Turn the heat off and let it sit a few minutes to cool a bit. This will keep your flour from balling up and making lumps in your gravy.

Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of flour to the bacon grease and stir with whisk making sure to get it very smooth. Now turn your heat on med and keep stirring until it starts to turn brown. You can't walk away at this point, you have to keep stirring so you don't burn it.

Your flour will look a bit like this until it starts to turn brown. Just make sure to keep it moving so it won't stick or burn to the bottom of the pan.

This is what you should have by the time your done. Don't worry about the little bits of bacon in the bottom. These only add more flavor! When it gets to this point your ready to add your tomatoes. BUT.... We first need to get the tomatoes ready so turn your heat off and let it sit for a bit. This is also good so that it won't cause lumps when you throw in the tomatoes.



Take your tomatoes, approximately 2 or 3 cans of diced tomatoes or whole tomatoes (including juice) and put them in a large bowl. Take a S style potato masher and simply crush them a little so it will break them down. You don't want them to be in chunks.

When this is done pour them into the frying pan along with your bacon. Add about 1 cup of water and turn the heat on high to get it hot and bubbling. When it starts to bubble ad your salt and pepper to taste. Turn down to medium and let it simmer until the tomatoes are soft and fall apart. You will also see that it thickens a bit from the flour. If you don't do the flour part it will be just as good, the only difference is that it is more of a watery gravy, not a thick one. Pour over your boiled white rice or over your biscuits, or both!! Enjoy