My kids are the luckiest ducks in Ducktown because they happen to be half-Italian and being half-Italian means they have a Nonna and a Nonno who teach them all kinds of wonderful Italiany things.
Last weekend was Passata Day (or week, as Nonno likes to pace himself these days). The kids fronted up with Bartolo (he gets called the Italian version of his name when I’m talking all things Italian) to help Nonno cut and squash and mix and boil the passata ready for the year ahead.
To make passata you need vine-ripened tomatoes, the riper the better. You also need a whole load of boiled and sterilised bottles that you’ve collected from friends everywhere (in return for collecting bottles you receive a few lovely jars!).
Wash the tomatoes and cut out any major imperfections before roughly cutting them up.
Boil them over low heat for a couple of minutes to soften them up nicely before pushing them through Nonno’s passapomodoro (he has a funky new red one after his ancient metal one finally gave up the ghost last year).
Once crushed, cook over low heat until the tomatoes reduce to a thick, rich sauce. Cool the sauce a little and then funnel into the bottles. If you like, you can put a few sprigs of basil into each bottle before pouring in the sauce. Nonna also makes some jars with garlic cloves and basil in the bottom to speed up her everyday cooking.
To sterilise and seal them you need to boil the jars over very high heat. To achieve this, Nonno stokes up a fire in the backyard and puts an enormous, beaten-up pot on top, places the jars inside, fills the pot with water and covers them with an old flannel shirt weighed down with bricks. He brings the pot to a fast boil and keeps it like that for at least an hour and half, stoking the fire and meditating in a Nonno kind of way. (Incidentally, that last photo above is a shot of the shelf next to Nonno’s BBQ where he keeps all his homemade seeds.)
Nonno also makes bottled tomatoes with basil, all grown fresh in his backyard city garden. These were Max’s specialty (I cringe when I see him with a knife). These are made in the same way as the passata, but without the crushing. Layer the bottles with basil then the cut, boiled tomatoes.
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After bottling the tomatoes and passata, we all enjoyed a lunch of gnocchi made with last year’s passata. Nonna is Neopolitan and doesn’t use potato to make what she calls gnocchi. Rather, it’s an eggless pasta dough molded into little gnocchi bundles which the girls helped her shape.
Nonna’s ‘everyday’ tomato sauce
A swirl of olive oil (see below)
3-4 plump garlic cloves, sliced wafer thin
A handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn (skip this bit if, like Nonna, your tomatoes are bottled with basil)
A jar of passata
Pinch of sea salt
Shake of black pepper
Little pinch of chilli powder or flakes
Little pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Heat a large fry pan over medium heat and swirl olive oil in the pan to make a large snail from middle to edges (yep, that’s how you measure what you need). Add the garlic and fry until just starting to turn golden. Add the passata, herbs and spices. Bring to boil and then turn the heat right down and leave to thicken and enrich the flavours.
Sauce is ready when it’s the consistency you like (make it thicker for pizza sauce, slightly runnier for pasta). The sauce will keep in a tightly-sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in a plastic zip-lock bag for a month or more.
Serve with homemade gnocci as here, or on pizza, stirred through pasta, folded through lasagne, poured over schnitzel… you get the idea.
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What family traditions are your kids lucky enough to experience?
PS – my little Badoo took lots of these photos, including the feature image. I won’t ask you if you could tell… ha!
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Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid says
I love it all – the pictures, the food and the joy that’s shared between grandparents and grandchildren. I think the photos are totally ace because the capture the whole experience. I totally need some of that passata in my life! I really treasure the times I had with my nana and my only regret is that we didn’t have more time together. This is the stuff magical memories are made of!
Maxabella says
There is nothing quite like seeing a child learning from his grandparent. It’s very special. x
Lila says
Sadly there aren’t any traditions in our family, I have sat in with food making days like this with family friends and think it is absolutely wonderful.
Maxabella says
You are ripe to start your own, Lila. You can be the first. x
Bele @ BlahBlah says
We’ve made passata the last couple of years with the family. Unfortunately, we couldn’t this year, but seeing the pics makes me think I might need to a batch at home, because I’m going to miss not having any homemade passata this year. Thank you for the reminder x
Maxabella says
I’m so lucky to have a ready supply of beautiful passata in my in-laws’ garage! x
Mandy Barbie Bieber Beyond says
That looks gorgeous!! I’m a big sucker for Italian food! Might have to attempt this myself!
Maxabella says
It’s all kinds of fabulous and we benefit all year long. You can definitely try making some in a smaller batch on the stove. x
JodiGibson (@JFGibsonWriter) says
I really do wish our family was more cultural and had wonderful traditions like this. Just beautiful Bron. x
Maxabella says
I guess we need to start some, Jodi! x
Megan Blandford says
I went to Passata Day at the lovely 13 Acres last weekend – loved it! What a great tradition.
AWESOME photos, Badoo! xx
Maxabella says
You are a lucky duck too, Megan. One day Bren and I will have to join forces for some passata making!! x
Ellen says
That is magnificent in so many ways. The inter generational family activity, the paddock-to-plate experience, the tradition (known to strengthen all kinds of bonds and enhance wellbeing), the kids’ engagement, the photos, the passata! I love family traditions. x
Maxabella says
Me too, so much! This is why I think the kids are so lucky because they are next in a long line who have kept traditions alive for so many, many years. The sense of belonging must be amazing. x
tash says
oh, a visual feast yet again! xx
Maxabella says
Are you hungry? x
Kylie Purtell - A Study in Contradictions says
That is so cool! Such a special family tradition.
Maxabella says
It totally is, Kylie. Italians are so good at coming together to do the food thing, and always, always across generations. x
Lisa Barton-Collins says
This is SO AWESOME! Things like this make me wish that I had some kind of Italian heritage, but alas, just regular Irish potatoes here. Mind you, everyone in my family can shuck an oyster, so there’s that. Got my own shucker and everything 😉
xx
Maxabella says
If you’ve got your own shucker, you’re totally sorted, Mrs BC. x
sarah@Tomfo says
That’s gold… I just love seeing stories like this, you guys are so lucky, what an awesome thing to be able to do together and eat it too. x Have a lovely weekend.
dear olive says
This so SO COOL. You’re right about being the luckiest ducks in ducktown! I wanna live in your pond! Kellie xx
Mother Down Under says
This brings back so many memories…my mom is Italian we had passata day and tomato sauce day.
Tomato sauce day (she just used to make bulk sauce and then freeze it) was the best as we would always have rigatoni with sausages and sauce for dinner…my favourite.
And when I lived in NYC I lived next to an Italian family and she would do passata day on their little back deck…dedication!
Thank you for sharing!
Natalie @ nightie night lane.com says
They really are the luckiest ducks! I have always wanted to go to tomato day! I’ve been trying to talk my Italian neighbour into bringing it back for me…. But I might have to do it and just pretend to be Italian for the day.
We have lots of family traditions around Christmas like a special 1st of December breakfast, no matter what day of the week it is.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Amanda says
What a great tradition for you all to be a part of! Nothing tastes better than homemade sauce xx
Kathy says
The whole passasta day makes me want to be Italian and have a Nonna and Nonno. It always seems so wonderful to share such a tradition, a day/week and food like that. Just read your screen time post and I’m with you on the boy thing. My daughter can have her iPod in her possession night and day and she could go days without picking it up or play for 30 mins and put it down she would rather be outside jumping in puddles, playing with dirt, being creative with paper and glue or boxes. My son on the other hand is a different story. I agree it’s the “when can I get on the screen” and “why can’t I get on the screen” or “why do I have to get off the screen”. Basically up until a year ago the kids were allowed one hour of xbox a week after home work was done. I’m okay with TV vs my son wrapped up in a computer game because turning the tv off is not the same as him getting off the iPod. Seriously there was a life before (my ex) bought the kids the iPod……….and my son seems to have forgotton what that was like. Then I’ll get him off the iPod and he’ll play the guitar but then it’s “can I have the iPad for the guitar tutorials” and then we are back to screen time. It bothers me about what they think they can’t do because they don’t have their iPod to play with. This drives me crazy too. I think it’s more a boy thing to be honest, well in my family it is. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane
Josefa @always Josefa says
Stories such as this one are what string humanity together at its core. The stories that weave through generations, through time, bypass technology and connect at the heart – these are the stories that define who we are. Stripped bare, exposed and vulnerable to all that we could be – these stories are there staring back at us. A beautiful tradition to share Bron. I remember making passata in my childhood, gosh those memories still bring tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. We are very lucky indeed to have these memories and to watch our own children make these memories for themselves xx
Maxabella says
Your words are always like poetry, Josefa. x