My mind is full of memories of wonderful food, and watching the ladies, my maternal grandmother, my Abruzzi-born mother and her two sisters cooking with her in the kitchens or basements of their respective houses in Pittsburgh. Born in Pordenone north of Venice, my father was a contractor and my maternal grandfather was in highway construction with his cousin. Both men built rustic, rudimentary "kitchens" or work areas in the basements. The ladies would cook up a storm. Pots of sauce simmering all day, boiling tripe or making pasta and boiling ravioli. Make a mess, you just hosed down the area! The sad part to this story is there is not one piece of paper anywhere, with one recipe written down. The recipes
were all in their heads!

People would ask my mother how something was made; she would always respond, in part, a little pinch of this and a dab of that. The little lady, your pasta-maker in Bologna who showed us her technique for making pasta, was my mother reincarnated! (Physical stature as well!) My mother's "workbench" was a 4'x8' piece of plywood, which was made to fit over the cement laundry tubs in the basement. My Mom's ravioli was jokingly labeled "a pound a piece". Here's a quip for you, my father would say to my Mom when she was making ravioli, and referring to the filling, "If I want dough (pasta), I'll eat spaghetti!" He wanted to taste the ricotta filling. I have never seen the size of her ravioli anywhere period! I have used many of her recipes which inspired me to developed many of my own. It has been a pleasure, making me walk back through the halls of my memories!

Here is one of my easy recipes that takes only 45 minutes, and is great for weekday meals as well as informal dinner parties. It is one of my son Brad's favorites. ~ Gary Lisotto, California