Seven or eight tomatoes, cut
A quarter of onion
A clove of garlic
A piece of celery
A few bay leaves
Parsley
A little oil, salt and pepper
Mushrooms (optional)
Butter & cheese

"Chop fine together a quarter of onion, a clove of garlic, a piece of celery as long your finger, a few bay leaves and just parsley enough. Season with a little oil, salt and pepper, cut u seven or eight tomatoes and put everything over the fire together. Stir it from time to time and when you see the juice condensing into a thin custard strain it through a sieve, and it is ready for use. This sauce serves many purposes. It is good on boiled meat; excellent to dress macaroni, spaghetti or other pastes which have been season with butter and cheese, or on boiled rice season in the same way. Mushrooms are a great addition to it."

This recipe was taken from "Practical Italian Recipes, sold for the Benefit of Italian War Orphans," by Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti. It was published in Washington, D.C. in 1918. For the entire copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org.... In the introduction to this recipe the author notes" "Pellegrino Artusi, the inimitable author of that droll yet practical manual of cooking Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating well (La Scienza in Cucina a l'arte di mangliar bene) has the following to say about tomato sauce. There was once a good old priest in village of the Romagna who stuck his nose into everything; in every family circle and in every domestic affair he wanted to have his finer in the pie. Aside from this he was a kindly old party and as his zeal was the source of more good than bad people let him go his way; but the wiseacres dubbed him Don Pomidoro (Sir Tomato) to indicate that tomatoes enter into everything; therefore a good tomato sauce is an invaluable aid in cooking." Photo: Mary Melfi

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