Mary A. Bodanza
"Our Nana"
1913-2008

FAMOUS "NANAISMS": "How can you drink wine if you don't eat a meatball?" (3/12/06) "I need more room.  I have enough food to choke a horse!" (3/12/06) "These cavatelli are like gold in Cleveland!" (3/12/06) "I love when you people eat!  When you eat, I'm in heaven.  When you don't, I'm in Hell!" (12/10/05) "The woman said she poured the cans of tomato soup in and called it sauce!  Even God was crying!" (2/3/01) "As long as God gives Nana strength, you will eat!" (9/28/99) Our Nana, Mary Agnes Bodanza, was born Maria Giuseppe Germano in 1913 in the small hilltown of Gildone near the city of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy. She came to the United States with her family when she was only 3 years-old and, like many immigrants of her day, came through Ellis Island.  The family moved to the Italian neighborhood of Collinwood in Cleveland, Ohio.  Here the immigrants maintained the culture and customs of their native Italia including their love for food.  Pasta was of course a staple for the family complete with the rich red tomato sauce which is so common to Americans today.  Nana learned to make the sauce that had been part of her family history for generations. She in turn passed it on to my mother and later to my wife and I.  And now I pass it on to the rest of the world so that everyone may have the opportunity to taste the best red sauce in the known universe! Nana lived independently and continued to make this red sauce until her stroke in late 2008.  She died peacefully on December 5, 2008, just two weeks short of her 95th birthday.  The best way to help her memory live forever is to make this sauce and share it with your family.

The Ingredients
2 cans Crushed Tomatoes (28 oz. size cans)
3 cans Contadina Tomato Paste (18 oz. size cans) with 2 1/2 cans water for each Paste Can (you NEED that much paste)
1 tsp. Oregano
2 tbsp. fresh Basil (or 1 tbls. of dry Basil if that is all you have)
a pinch of dry Parsley
2 tsp. fresh-ground Black Pepper (adjust to taste...Nana liked a lot)
4 cloves Garlic (chopped)
1 Bermuda Onion (chopped and sauteed in olive oil)
2 tsp. Salt
3/4 cup imported Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (No Kraft allowed! No green metal cans!)
1 Hard-Boiled Egg
Meatballs (see recipe below)
Italian Sausage (1 pound)
1 stick of Pepperoni (8 ounces) cut into 5-10 thick slices
a Pork Neck Bone or a Pork Chop with bone (optional, but key to the flavor)

You also need 3 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil to saute the onion (we prefer Colavita...it's from Molise like Nana!)

Time to work... In the Extra Virgin Olive Oil, saute the chopped onion for 10 minutes on medium heat.  Throw 3/4 of the onion into a 12 qt. pot with all the other ingredients EXCEPT the cheese, the egg and the meat.  The onion is used to sweeten the sauce and to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.  Some people use sugar instead of the onion.  DO NOT DO THIS!  Nana would beat you with a wooden spoon!   Don't believe me?  Watch this video (from when she was 93 y/o): You are not making ketchup! Nana wrote to food companies for years telling them to take the sugar out of their jarred red sauces. Lately some of the companies have listened and now advertise red sauces without sugar or corn syrup. And you DO need a total of 54 oz. of tomato paste. This is the question we receive the most email about. Do not use those little 6 oz. cans or you will have tomato soup! Cook the sauce on Med/Med Hi until it boils (when bubbles are seen) and then turn down the heat to Lo/Med. If you are using a Neck Bone or Pork Chop for added flavor, cook it in the microwave for 4-6 minutes or fry it and then throw it in now. Simmer for 50-60 minutes uncovered and stir frequently. While the sauce is cooking, grill or fry the Italian Sausage and make the meatballs as directed below. After the simmering is complete, add the cheese, the meatballs, the sausage, the pepperoni and the hard-boiled egg (after removing the shell). The recipe works well with either cheese. Try both to find your favorite or mix the cheeses together. If you can not find these imported Italian cheese in your area, try the Internet. ANYTHING is better than the cheese in that green metal can. No one is quite sure where the egg came from in this recipe, but there has always been one in there and finding it is like finding the prize in the bottom of the cereal box. However, the pepperoni are more highly prized and my sisters and cousins and I used to battle to find them. We once convinced Nana to put more pepperoni in the sauce but that actually overpowers the other flavors and I do not recommend it. Cook all of the above for at least 60 more minutes on Lo/Med. The sauce tastes better and absorbs the meat flavor if you cook it for 2-4 hours, but this can be time-consuming. Be sure to stir frequently because if the sauce sticks to the bottom of the pot and burns, you have to start over! When the time is up, turn the heat down to Warm until you are ready to serve. Add more salt and pepper to taste. The recipe will serve at least 10 hungry Italians. Excess sauce can be frozen for months. The sauce tastes best on Nana's homemade pasta...fresh cavatelli. It is the pasta seen in that picture at the top of this page. However, any high quality Italian pasta cooked "al dente" will do. If you are lucky, you may find some frozen cavatelli in your grocer's freezer section. If you want to make "cavadells" from scratch, follow Nana:

The Meatballs
1 lb. Ground Round
1 Egg (beaten with a fork)
1/8 cup (1 oz.) Milk
1 tsp. Basil (get the real stuff if you can)
1 tsp. Parsley
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Pepper
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
the 1/4 of the sauteed Onion left over from making the sauce
1 slice of Italian Bread (torn into small pieces with the crust removed)
1/3 cup Progresso Italian Style Bread Crumbs

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. It should be noted that during the Great Depression, Nana used to add more bread in order to make the meat (which was rationed at the time) go farther. She was also known to do this when the number of people she had to feed suddenly increased. :) You can do the same. Rub some olive oil on your hands (Nana's secret to round meatballs) and shape the ingredients into meatballs a little bit larger than golf ball size. Fry them in a pan with 2 tbsp. olive oil on Med/Med Hi heat by frequently fipping the raw sides down until they are all cooked. This recipe should make about 14 meatballs depending on how much bread is used.

Buon Appetito!

©1997-2009 - Ronald M. Taddeo, MD --> Nana loved to hear from people who made her sauce and we still do:

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