Sauce Talk continued... (Discussions about Italian food and family. Good times at the table and in the kitchen) Here, I have placed some of my email correspondence in regards to my recipes that may answer a lot of questions and give you some good tips along the way... and the best part is they're just plain fun to read! Good Italian food really brings back so many wonderful memories. If you have any wonderful memories and or tips in regards to great Italian cooking you grew up with or just want to talk about "the family" feel free to send them to me and I'll throw them up on the site. Ciao.... Take me back to the Italian recipes or enjoy all the great reading below!

Sauce Talk: Italian Family Recipe Discussions Part 11

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~ Betty

Betty,
Glad you like the recipe. I'm honored that a person born and raisedin the Italian borough of NYC--Brooklyn likes the sauce.. That's a real compliment I know, because I have had some very good Italian food from that area in the past. I myself was born and raised in Massechusets and grew up with some excellent Italian cooking.!!!! I have definately not found that kind of food in NC, so I'm left to cook it up myself. he he he...

Ciao
~8-) Anthony

Hi Anthony,
You're absolutely right about the Braciolle disappearing first! We're looking forward to trying your Eggplant Recipe and Manicotti Recipe as soon as you make them available. We believe that our love of food gives a starting point to a common bond among all people. Again, thank you for your letter Anthony. We've been trying to fine-tune an Osso Bucco recipe for little over a year, and as soon as we come up with something that we can brag about, I'll be certain to send it your way via email, and perhaps you can improve on it even further and share it with others.

Enjoy your family, friends, and your lives together,

~ Vince

Vince,
I will try to remember to email when I get the new recipe up on the site. The problem is good italian cooking has no written down recipes. I have to remember next time I make the Eggplant and Manicotti to write down the whole process similar to how I wrote down the sauce recipe. I know how to make all this stuff, but it's in my head. I just have to get it out of my head into a written form. I made the Eggplant just about two weeks ago and totally forgot to write it down. Anyway, keep checking the site from time to time and eventually it will be there. :-)

Ciao
~8-) Anthony

Hi Anthony,
Thanks for trying to remember to email your new recipe to us! I know EXACTLY what you mean about not having any written down recipes. I mean, the stuff I cook now did start from a recipe I originally followed, but as my tastes alters the original recipe over time, it eventually gets to a point that I wouldn't even know what the original recipe called for.(providing the original recipe was only so-so) And I guess I cook just like you. My so called recipes are in my head kinda. I just cook by smell, look and taste, with no clue on just how many tsp. or tbs. I actually used. That's probably gonna be your biggest challenge when you start writing down your family recipes. Because you're going to need to quantify the measurements and procedures. Oh, I did order gnocchi a few times in restaurants before, but they never really seemed to get my attention too much. It was definitely the sauce because I liked the texture of the gnocchi. With that, I'll keep checking your site for updates.<hehehe>

~ Vince

Anthony,
I love to make different sauces for pasta. I found your recipe to be something quite similar to the one that I make. The "basic Sunday dinner" sauce. I haven't made yours yet, but I was wondering when you make "your" meatballs, did you ever use ground pork as well as ground chuck?? Usually 1/2 lb. of pork to every 1lb. of chuck. That gives the meatballs a ton of flavor. I was surprised that you used dark wheat bread as opposed to Italian bread for the balls. Personally, I use a TON of Romano as opposed to Parmesan cheese. I only really use Parmesan for Risotto. In our family we make a "tomato paste" sauce and also a "mint" sauce. They are outrageous. The tomato paste sauce we usually make for X-mas eve with a nice linguini. Very simple to make and extremely fabulous. It's also good with anything that has ricotta, i.e., ravioli, manicotti, etc. All you do is you saute garlic (lots of it) in olive oil. The olive oil is at least 1 inch up the side of the pot. A lot of olive oil. You saute the garlic, add 6 (small) cans of paste. Stir until the paste has absorbed most of the olive oil. It takes some time. We always sprinkle paprika on our paste because our aunts tell us that it helps the oil rise to the top. Then you add maybe 3 or 4 small cans of tomato sauce. Stir, when the oil rises to the top, its done. Of course, you add some salt and white pepper while the sauce is cooking. It is unbelievable. As far as the mint sauce, take your sauce and instead of adding the basil, add a generous amount of fresh and dried mint leaves. What a sauce. It's wonderful especially during the summer when you have barbecues and out comes the rigatoni with this amazing refreshing sauce.

Try it and thanks for your recipe. I will be making your sauce Sun. morning.

~ Annie

Annie,
Thanks for all the neat cooking tips.. I will have to try it out.. I'll let you know how it comes out... Did you get a chance to make my recipe yet? Just curious to see how it came out for you. Have a great day!! And happy cooking....

Ciao
~8-) Anthony

Dear Anthony:
I want to say how much I liked your web site. I have been looking for a recipe for braciole for a while now. Mom, dad and grandparents are gone. Being of the Italian decent (on dad's side) I was always ashamed that I couldn't make a good sauce. I plan on trying your recipe this weekend. My question to you is..... what is the total cooking time for the sauce? That is the only thing that seems unclear to me. Thanks to the polish side of the family (mom) I can make potato dumplings and sweet and sour cabbage, I make a mean meat loaf, now hopefully I can add just the right pasta sauce.    Thank you.

~ Karen - Lancaster NY

Karen,
Glad to share the braciole recipe with you... I have added the overall cooking time onto the site for you. Let me know how the braciole came out... I would like to try your recipe for Patato dumplings... Send it on over to me when you get time - webmaster@i-probe.com - I would love to try it out... Well, gotta run. Happy Cooking.

Ciao
~8-) Anthony

Hello Anthony,
I love your pasta sauce. I want to make it for a big dinner for about 25 of my friends. Could you please give me the amounts of ingredients that I will need for that amount of people? I just need the sauce.

Thanks

~ Tommie

Tomiie,
What I recommend is make the sauce as I have it on the recipe, then freeze it. And do that (3) times. This will give you (3) pots of Sauce. I recommend doing this a couple days ahead of time. Then, when your ready for the 25 people, take out the frozen sauce the night before. just leave it on the counter over night. Then in the morning just heat up all the sauce.. You would need one VERY large pan if you want to heat it all up in (1) sauce pan. However this would be the best for flavor... Mixing all (3) pots of sauce together and heating it all up at once in the same pot... Would get much better flavor that way... But if not just heat up your (3) pots of sauce and while heating up these pots mix the sauce together.... Get a measuring cup and start transferring cups of sauce from one pot to the other, this will give you a uniformed taste throughout all (3) pots of sauce..

             Good luck and Enjoy!!! Antrhony

Tomiie,
I have a quick revision on the info for freezing the sauce...Tlaked to my mother in-law last month and learned a valuable tip. These direction are for freezing in small containers, but you can modify it to work with a large container as well: After you have finished the sauce go ahead and just let it sit there while your enjoying your meal, this will allow it to cool a bit. What I recommend is using jelly jars or canning jars a quart or smaller. Poor the sauce into the jars leaving about 1" of space at the top of the jar (you want to have some room for the sauce to expand while it freezes. As far as the Meatballs and Braciole go (if you have any left... these usually go quickly), you will want to freeze those separately. Take the meatballs and Braciole out of the sauce and put them on a plate. Get a cookie sheet and some wax paper. Put 1 sheet of wax paper on the cookie sheet and put the meatballs and braciole on top of the wax paper being sure not to let any of them touch each other... no touchy while freezing... ;) This will allow them to freeze and not stick to each other. Let them freeze for about an 1-1/2 hours. After they have frozen then you can take them out of the freezer and put them together in one container or several containers. No that they are frozen it's safe to freeze them together. (you do all this to prevent the meatballs and braciole from fusing together during the freezing process). ~ Then when you are ready to reheat take out the Jar of sauce and the container of meatballs and or barcarole and put them on a plate on your counter.. take the lids off and put a kitchen towel over the containers and plate. I recommend doing this before you go to work, so when you get home everything is well thawed out and ready to quickly heat up. :)"

Ciao
~8-) Anthony