By Chef Joseph Massaglia
In my previous Shore Local article, I discussed that fact that there is no one recipe for a perfect meatball. Every Nonna has her own recipe, and we all love our Nonna’s meatballs, no question there. And I’m sure you also like your Nonna’s sauce or her gravy. What! Gravy?
When I arrived in Philadelphia as a young man from Italy 40-plus years ago, I heard people taking about eating gravy on their pasta. I had no idea what they meant. There is no such thing as gravy in Italy. My new American wife explained to me that in America gravy was a brown sauce that was served with meat after roasting.
But the Italian Americans in Philadelphia were calling what I knew as sauce (or rago or sugo), gravy. And today, people in Philadelphia (and some parts of northern New Jersey, Boston, the Bronx and Chicago) still call it gravy. Interestingly, I think most people here in our South Jersey area call it sauce.
By the way, if you have an interest in learning a bit more about sauce versus gravy, check out my friend Lorraine Ranalli’s book, Gravy Wars: South Philly Foods, Feuds & Attytudes.
But as with meatballs, there really isn’t just one recipe for sauce/gravy. And there are so many different sauces that I can only cover the tip of the sauce iceberg in this article. There are sauces just for fish, meat and/or poultry. Then there are regional variations for all those sauces. And for pasta there are red sauces, green sauces and white sauces, too. According to Wikipedia, there are 27 categories of sauces, and many, many varieties of sauces within each category. Mama Mia, we Italians love our sauces!
So, where to begin. First, let me start with Marinara Sauce, which is thought to have originated in Naples and dates back to the late 1600s. In Italy, Alla Marinara properly refers to a sauce made with tomatoes, basil, oregano and anchovies; sometimes olives or capers are added. Marinara is derived from the Italian word for mariner, sailor, or from the sea, hence a true marinara sauce contains anchovies in its base recipe.
However, in America, the term Marinara Sauce has come to mean a plain tomato sauce made with garlic and various herbs, and sometimes onions. But in some countries Spaghetti Marinara is a pasta dish where red sauce is mixed with a variety of seafood and served over pasta. (In Italy that would properly be called Alla Pescatore.)
Italy’s most famous meat sauce comes from Bologna – Ragù alla Bolognese. Dating back to the 18th century, this rich and hearty slow-cooked sauce typically includes minced beef, pancetta, sautéed vegetables and wine. However, ragù can be made with any type of meat, including game and poultry. It’s traditionally served with a flat, ribbon-like egg pasta such as tagliatelle or fettuccine, not spaghetti.
One of my most favorite sauces is Sugo All’Amatriciana, also known as Salsa All’Amatriciana. It’s a traditional Italian pasta sauce containing guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino cheese, tomato and sometimes onion. Originating from the town of Amatrice in the mountainous Lazio region, Amatriciana sauce is one of the best know pasta sauces in Italian cuisine. It’s usually served with bucatini or perciatelli pasta, or another pasta with a hole in the center to absorb the rich sauce both inside and out. And you can find it on my menu at Mama Mia’s.
Cacio e pepe or “cheese and pepper” pasta is very, very popular right now. As the name suggests, the ingredients of the dish are very simple: black pepper, grated Pecorino-Romano cheese, and spaghetti. But even though the ingredients are minimal, the techniques and its simplicity elevate the dish to fantastic heights.
To make it, cooked pasta (pasta should have a rough surface like rigatoni) is poured into a pan containing the grated Pecorino-Romano mixed with black pepper and a little of the hot, starchy, pasta cooking water. The heat melts the cheese, and the starches in the water help bind the pepper and cheese to the pasta. While not authentic cacio e pepe, seafood or bacon is sometimes added.
Another very popular dish is Aglio e Olio, which literally means olive oil and garlic, and also hails from Naples (or some say Abruzzo). This dish is made by sautéing sliced fresh garlic in olive oil with the addition of red pepper flakes, parsley and anchovies. It’s attributed to the poor peasants who had to make due with very little and hence, its simplicity and wonderful taste.
Pesto is an uncooked sauce originating in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria. The word pesto is derived from the Italian pestare, which means to pound or to crush. According to tradition, the ingredients are “crushed” or ground in a marble mortar through a circular motion of a wooden pestle.
Pesto traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep’s milk), all blended with olive oil.
Today pesto can be made with many different ingredients. Sometimes parsley can be substituted for basil and walnuts or almonds for pine nuts. And I think most people now use a blender or food processor to make pesto today; I certainly do.
Finally, any article on Italian sauces wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, or “spaghetti in the style of a prostitute.” This is an Italian pasta dish supposedly invented in Naples in the mid-20th century – yes, that recently. Its ingredients typically include tomatoes, olive oil, anchovies, olives, capers and garlic, served over pasta.
There is no clear-cut reason how this dish came to be named as it is. Some say that because it is quick to prepare, ladies of the night could prepare it between clients. Other say that because it is so fragrant, the same ladies would prepare it to entice clients to their establishments. Whatever the reason, this is one Italian pasta sauce you’ll want to try if you haven’t done so already. You can make it with ingredients from your pantry, and it really can be done very quickly.
As I said at the beginning, these sauces are only the tip of the Italian sauce iceberg. I’d be interested in knowing your favorite Italian sauce, or how you make one of the sauces mentioned here. Just email me at: joestablefortwo@gmail.com, or call and talk to me during my radio show, Joe’s Table for Two, which airs every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WOND 1400 AM.
Buon Appetito!
* Open Seven Days a Week: The One and Only Original Mama Mia’s Restaurante in the Marmora Shopping Center. Dinner reservations suggested. 609-624-9322. www.mamamiasnj.com
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