Kathy Coluccio-Fazzolari’s heirloom recipe for Linguine and Tomato Lunch, from Italian Home Cooking: 125 Recipes to Comfort Your Soul, by Julia della Croce (Kyle Books)
Photo: Hirsheimer & Hamilton
It’s not every day that you find a missing link to history–in this case, pasta history. Read about how I found a lost recipe, progenitor of the union of pasta and the tomato in, of all places, Brooklyn, New York. Then again, the site of the find was D. Coluccio & Sons, the iconic Bensonhurst Italian grocery. Maybe not such a surprise after all.
Three generations have inherited the heirloom recipe. Cathy Coluccio Fazzolari (left) together with her mother, Maria Coluccio, and daughter, Alessandra Fazzolari.
Photo courtesy of Cathy Coluccio-Fazzolari
After reading the new article, you may never again take for granted spaghetti and meatballs, or any other variation on the theme of pasta and tomato sauce.
Vintage postcard from Naples, c. late 1800s, showing mangiamaccheroni, “macaroni eaters.”
Courtesy: www.fxcusine.com
You wouldn’t imagine such a simple dish could be so splendid–and so filled with history. Continue reading here.
A man eating vermicelli with tomato, the prototype of every marriage of pasta and tomato ever invented. Illustration by Percival Seaman, 1843. From Pasta Classica: The Art of Italian Pasta Cooking (Chronicle Books), by Julia della Croce, courtesy W. Graham Arader III, New York
Follow
email
Io sono Romana di Roma
Ho preso la tua ricetta e l’ho, come sempre, leggermente cambiata:
Mezzo spicchio d’aglio, una grossa manciata di basilico, 2 cm e mezzo di peperoncino, sei pomodorini a pera ben maturi e pelati sale e pepe ed olio di oliva organico pressato a freddo. in un cusinart per due secondi o il tutto fatto a pezzettini ed un po’ schiacciato. Per due persone cucinate 2 etti e mezzo di pasta e buttateci sopra il condimento. Spargeteci sopra un po’ di parmigiano e pecorino mischiati e….che bonta’.
La tua ricetta era meravigliosa ma amo anche provare a farne un po’ di cambiamenti. Sono italiana ed amo cucinare. quando i pomodori sono ben maturi sono dolci e sono anche buoni crudi. Grazie per la tua pazienza.
For those who don’t read Italian:
“I was born and bred in Rome. I took your recipe and, as always, changed it a bit: half a clove of garlic, a big handful of basil leaves, hot chili pepper to taste, organic extra-virgin olive oil. Pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor for 2 seconds until the tomatoes are roughly chopped. Cook the pasta (A.M. used spaghetti) and toss it, piping hot, with the tomato mixture. Sprinkle a mixture of parmigiano-rggiano and pecorino over it (to bind the tomatoes to the pasta). What goodness! Your recipe is wonderful but I like to add my own touches. I’m Italian and I love to cook. When tomatoes are really ripe, they’re sweet and so, good to eat raw. Thanks for your attention.” –Anna Maria Weld
Dear A.M., I can’t argue with this recipe–it’s a class raw tomato sauce recipe. Fabulous–though an entirely different recipe from the Coluccio family recipe. For one thing, you don’t do it all in one pot!
In Umbria near Fabro at a small trattoria/pizzeria where our friends from Ficulle had brought my wife Michele and our three sons for pizza, I watched as a woman served five local workers pasta in a large skillet with 5/6 inch sides. The tomatoes and garlic and other ingredients were all together in the pot–and she brought it to their table still bubbling hot and steaming its great aromas throughout the place. So perhaps this sauce and pasta –all together in one pot–is found in other country places and small towns like Fabro Scalo.
What a delicious image. I wonder if the tomatoes and garlic were uncooked, as in Anna Maria’s recipe, or if they’d been all boiled together, as in the original. I’m sure the original version is still made, and readers have written to say they’ve seen it in various places around Italy. One reader called it spaghetti ca’ pummarola n’coppa (dialect).
ps “spaghetti ca’ pummarola n’coppa,” meaning “spaghetti with tomatoes on top”
I like it when people come together and share opinions. Great blog, keep it up!
Thank you, keep tuned!
This design is incredible! You obviously know how
to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job.
I really loved what you had to say, and more than that,
how you presented it. Too cool!