I think it's one of the most iconic things here in Italy.
since I was a child this was one of the most anticipated events of the year for me, so how could I better use my day off from the restaurant, if not by helping my grandmother (84) and my grandfather (89) to prepare the homemade tomato sauce?
Grandpa has a small plantation but to prepare the sauce he relies on some of his old friends who have a farm. grandmother cooks tomatoes with white onion and basil. everything that comes out must be ground with the appropriate hand machine at least 4 times.
(this is where my young arms come into play) once everything has been ground, grandpa uses a cloth to drain all the water released during cooking, so that only the pulp remains in the sauce. now we need to store the sauce, we use glass jars that we boil in pots of water to vacuum them and preserve them for a long time.
I remember that as a child I loved eating pasta with freshly made tomatoes.
Today I used “fusilli Napoletani lunghi” because they are exceptional at capturing the sauce.
If today I am the person and the chef that I am, I owe it to these memories and to my grandparents for having passed on this passion to me.
by Flimsy_Inspector_735