In past times it was use and custom
to prepare, with the home grown summer fruits, the preserves for the winter.
The tomato, for example, was transformed in: "chiappe[1]";
peeled tomatos; "strattu" (tomato
paste home-made) and naturally in sauce. It could not miss in the pantry a
consistent stockpile of the tasty sauce of the juicy and red vegetable.
Today some willing housewife still
prepares "a sarsa[2]".
I am among these, so much that many my friends believe I am nut.
Well, perhaps I also will be also so
a little, but the taste of this sauce is hardly comparable to that of the
commercial tomato purée.
The recipe that I write you I have
learned from the mother of my mother, the Nonna
Nella[3]
- which called Francesca Margherita in truth, but in the large families is
accustomed to give some nicknames to differentiate the cousins, that often had
the same name of baptism - polished woman, delicate drawer and great cook.
Not you must necessarily cook a lot quantity
of it to make preserve. You can do few quantity of it and serve it with the
spaghetti or with the shape of pasta that more you like, even adding fried dices
eggplants, basil and the salt-cured ricotta cheese. So you will realize one of
the first more famous Sicilian dishes, a real artwork: the "Pasta alla
Norma"[4].
With the ingredients indicated in
the recipe you will realize around two bottles of 800 ml each one.
