A good sugo is the cornerstone of Nonna’s cooking. Whether you are making pizza, lasagne, pasta or gnocchi, a good tomato sauce is a must. And in this episode, she incorporates homemade sausage, homemade wine made by Nonno, homemade passata (stewed tomato), and handpicked oregano.
She starts with extra virgin olive oil, and adds a generous amount of garlic (to taste) and diced onion and sautees a few minutes. Then she adds in her fresh, homemade Italian pork sausages (cut in half) and about 1/2 cup of red wine. Nonna tosses in about a tablespoon of oregano and cooks through the sausage. Nonna then adds two jars of her homemade passata (2L) and some fresh basil and lets it simmer slowly about an hour.
Nonna serves up her delicious sugo, with her homemade gnocchi, topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese and a basil leaf.
Buon appetito!
Every year, the entire “famiglia” gathers in September to prepare about 400 litres of passata and every January to process about 20 shoulders/hams. As you can see, Nonna and Nonno have kept many Italian traditions alive and well.