From the family table
My grandfather Erasmo was born in San Martino in Pensilis, a hill town in Molise. I never met him. I know him the way many of us know our people, through the stories my father and cousins tell.
In those stories he and his brother rafted from Canada to St. Louis, because Canada was too cold. He turned up in Buenos Aires at least once. He crossed between America and Italy and back again with very little money in his pocket. Everyone agrees he was quite a character.
Solevino Cucina is how I keep a place for him at the table. Erasmo's Sunday Sauce carries his name. It is not his recipe, which I never had. It is a red-sauce seasoning in the Italian-American style, made for the same long Sunday pot.
Pull up a chair. Benvenuti a tavola.
Patty
On the shelf
Herb blends
Four small-batch blends rooted in Abruzzo and Molise. The origin of the ingredients is printed on every label, and each blend does far more than one job.
Marmellata
Lemon and orange preserves, cooked slowly in small batches and water-bath canned.
Cookbooks I cook from
The books I trust for the food of the Italian South, from Calabria and Sicily to Molise.
Pantry essentials
Oils, chilies, tomatoes, pasta shapes, anchovies and more. The things I keep on my own shelves.