Sicilian Sunday Sauce With 4 Add-Ins
What I learned growing up around Sicilian American immigrant families
I grew up in a neighborhood of converted summer cottages on the shores of Lake Ontario; my neighborhood was eclectic because it offered cheap rentals with suburban schools and a big private beach, attracting young families, hippies, bikers, and immigrants. The immigrants were largely Sicilian American, with family names like DiStefano, Cometa, Tommaselli — all the names of my childhood friends.
For a skinny WASP kid used to white-bread PBJs and overcooked chicken, learning what these friends ate was a revelation. Most of their parents were first-generation immigrants, often still speaking Italian at home. Their mothers fed me, perhaps trying to fatten me up a bit, just as everyone’s parents tended to feed each other’s kids. Though I sometimes balked at unfamiliar things, overall the food was simple and amazing. Peasant food, really, but also very sophisticated in its simplicity. These childhood experiences started an early fascination with cooking.
The smell of Sunday afternoons
It was traditional for the moms to make sauce on Sunday that bubbled away on the back of the stove, simmering into a cooking medium for a variety of proteins for Sunday dinner, always with pasta…
