Monday, March 8, 2010

Channeling my inner Italian

Thanks to a lovely Italian woman from the old neighborhood I was able to take a few ingredients in the pantry to make up some sauce use up some pasta and ravioli for dinner tonight. Not having a drop of Italian blood on my family tree, I was taught how to cook all things Italian by our neighbor, Mrs. Gallo. When I was in middle school, she taught me how to make my own sauce in preparation to make a half dozen trays of lasagna for a family party. First up, onions cooked lightly in oil with minced garlic added a minute or two at the end.

Since she only used tomatoes from the garden, Mrs. Gallo would have started her sauce a few days ahead of time. Me? I used a few shortcuts because it was after 4PM - but there were tomatoes from the garden in my sauce - just not all of them.


All the tomatoes blended in with onions and garlic. Meat browning on the back burner.

Reversed the pans so the mushrooms could be added to the meat and the tomatoes could stop bubbling up and burning my wrists. It's coming together, but I had to transfer to a different and larger pot!

Add a few herbs and spices, cover and let simmer.

Technically, the pasta should be fresh, and the sauce added to it on the table. However, we were trying to reuse some left over raviolis and pasta so it got added a few minuted before serving on the table. Not exactly Julia Child or Rachel Ray but I think Giada De Laurentes and Mrs. Gallo would have totally understood and approved.

1 comment:

Amie V said...

oh, yum! that sounds great. everyone needs to channel their inner italian from time to time.