Poppi is the little guy in front:)

D’Amico food board this week.

Meatballs and Poppi’s cookbook.

Sautéing onions (and I throw the basil in with the onions)

Cento–my favorite brand of Italian Tomatoes

Dinner last night–Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Today’s lunch–meatball sandwiches.

This is an older picture of Poppi and I after cooking together. I’ll get picture updates this Friday! 🙂

Happiness is being Italian…or marrying into an Italian family full of great cooks works, too. I remember little from my first few meetings with Mom and Poppi, as it’s masked with the memory of nervous jitters and the hazy veil that being in love had dropped over my eyes. I remember two distinct things–a sense of unconditional love, and the aroma of meatballs and marinara.

The second time that I came over for dinner, Poppi was fashioning an old Italian apron with hand smears of red sauce across his belly. He hugged me as if I’d always been his, and immediately started in with marinara samples and little tips. At this point, I was only 22 and had never made a bona fide red sauce–my version of “spaghetti sauce” meant smuggling a jar of my mom’s canned tomato sauce from the cellar or buying whatever red sauce was on clearance. Furthermore, my experience with pasta was pretty much limited to elbow macaroni and spaghetti noodles; who knew there are a hundred plus ways to design a noodle? Poppi talked me through his marinara, which has essentially two “secrets” I wouldn’t have guessed–you must use peeled Italian tomatoes (the canned beefsteak tomatoes aren’t going to cut it) and the recipe calls for sugar.

I love that my first memories of Mom and Poppi involve the kitchen and the sharing of recipes, as it was an immediate comfort zone of taste-testing, laughter and messy aprons. I knew being a part of this family was going to be a life changing adventure; ten years later, I find myself savoring our time together and anticipating a chance to cook together again. This Friday, in fact, he’s coming over while Mom is on a craft excursion in Macon; I don’t know what we’re cooking yet, but I’m sure we’ll create something fabulous served up with a few old stories of New Jersey. The thing about a great recipe is that it can live on forever, like heirlooms and faded photographs. Instead of just putting it on the shelf to dust once a week, however, recipes get to come alive in order to be experienced and loved over and over again–and in those moments, the stories and memories associated come alive again, too. I know that every batch of red sauce I ever make will be a connection to Mom and Poppi, the love they so freely gave me, and the acceptance into their family long before they knew much about me.

Here are my favorite two recipes of Poppi’s–I want to keep the integrity of the recipes “Poppi’s Way” so I typed them exactly as they are in our family cookbook. Beneath, I noted a few things that I do differently.

Poppi’s “Marinara Sauce Fresca”

Ingredients:
2-3 T Extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
8-10 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
2 T sugar
1 T salt
6-8 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
3 28 oz cans of Italian Plum Tomatoes

Directions:
Use only a stainless steel sauce pot. Cover the bottom of the pot with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, turn stove onto med-high heat. Sauté onions until they are transparent, then add garlic and sauté until soft. (Do not brown.) Add tomatoes, sugar and salt and simmer for about 5 minutes. Blend all ingredients using a hand held electric wand until smooth. Add basil leaves and let simmer on medium heat for 45 minutes. Taste sauce for sweetness–add more sugar if necessary. Cook your favorite pasta and enjoy!

**Alterations–I like to use 2 onions instead of one, and I prefer the sauce a little chunky, so I don’t puree it until smooth. I also throttle back on the garlic, and typically do about 6-8 cloves. I often double this recipe and freeze in smaller portions; it keeps really nicely in the freezer.

Poppi’s “Mamma Schiraldi’s Italian Meat Balls”

Ingredients:
2 C whole milk
4 large eggs
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/2 C grated Romano cheese
1/2 C parsley (dry or fresh)
2 t ground black pepper
1 t salt
2 C seasoned Italian Bread Crumbs
3 lbs ground beef

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except ground beef. Wisk well and let rest for about 10 minutes. If mixture is too dry, add milk and if it is too wet, add breadcrumbs. Add ground beef and mix all ingredients by hand until thoroughly blended. Create meatballs out of the mixture–the size is up to you. Place meatballs in a greased (use Pam) baking pan. Then add 1/2 water (to reduce shrinking and eliminate burning) and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Check for doneness by cutting meatball in the middle.

**Alterations–I don’t use the tomato sauce, prefer half ground beef and half Italian sausage or pork sausage, and add a clove or two of minced garlic. I also broil the meatballs the last 4-5 minutes so that they are nice and brown. After I pull them out of the oven, I drop them into my red sauce and let the flavors marry for at least 15 minutes.

The other redeeming quality of making red sauce and meatballs (as if you need another) is that day two meatball sandwiches continue the Italian celebration.