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Wednesday, September 26, 2001
That's Italian
Old World aromas of bruschetta, meatballs and frittata fill city home
By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Ingrid D’Anna takes a peek at Grandma Mandola beans, a vegetable-and-egg side dish, while her son Gasper Jr. looks on. Ingrid traces her roots to the former Yugoslavia, but since she does most of the cooking, she has mastered many of her husband’s favorite foods.

If you looked at a map, you'd never guess that a tiny corner of Sicily is located near the south end of Everhart Road.
   But there, in Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna's home, the pasta is plentiful and there's no shortage of garlic.
   The D'Anna family's trademark gravy, a thick tomato sauce, is simmering on the stove, and Gasper Jr., 4, is standing on a chair, helping his mom make meatballs.
   "Just squish it together," Ingrid, 35, tells him, as the boy works on shaping the mixture of ground beef, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and spices.
   Gasper, 38, explained that his grandmother taught his mother how to make the gravy. The family isn't sure if it originated with Grandma (or "Munga" as Gasper Jr. calls her) or goes back further.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Gasper D’Anna slides a dish of Mandola beans onto a plate.

   It's not an instant meal, by any means. Ingrid said she makes a batch on the weekend, when she has three hours to make it, and freezes half for a quick dinner later on.
   "You can use it on baked chicken, pasta, anywhere you use tomato gravy," she said.
   Family favorites
   Gasper's parents were born in the United States, but his father has aunts, uncles and cousins in Sicily. Ingrid, a teacher at Mirabeau B. Lamar Elementary School, traces her roots to the former Yugoslavia, but since she does most of the cooking, she has mastered many of Gasper's favorite foods.
   One dish sure to inspire a race for the last piece is Grandma Mandola Beans, a vegetable-and-egg side dish.
   "It's kind of like a flat pie," Ingrid said, trying to describe its consistency.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Bruschetta bread with diced tomatoes is served warm with Grandma Mandola beans.

   "My grandma used to cook it all the time," said Gasper, vice president of engineering at John Bludworth Shipyard LLC. "The kids would always fight over it. It was the only way I would eat vegetables."
   While everyone craves it, few in the family can make it. Gasper has four siblings and four cousins. Today, however, only Gasper's mother, an aunt, Ingrid and a 16-year-old nephew can make the coveted concoction.
   It can be a temperamental dish. Ingrid had coated the skillet with oil, but without cooking spray, the beans were reluctant to come out of the pan. Happily, the basic ingredients of this recipe make it easy to try again.
   Serving up Sicily
   The couple moved to Corpus Christi from Houston two years ago. Gasper remembers childhood meals as social occasions.
   "I would go in the garage and the old men would be out there, making pasta in (large) washtubs," he said.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Munga D’Anna’s pasta gravy can be serve over boiled pasta, baked chicken or grilled chicken breasts.

   Gasper wields a chopper to mash tomatoes into the right consistency for the bruschetta. He pours olive oil into a teacup and brushes each slice of bread with oil before adding tomatoes, cheese and garlic powder. He checks with Ingrid to find out how much garlic powder she usually adds. He's a garlic fan, he admits, and he wants to make sure the bread is palatable for a general audience.

David Adame/Caller-Times

Cousin Antoinetta’s Pasta, a warm pasta salad dotted with fresh tomato chunks.

   The D'Annas figure they cook their Italian favorites a couple times a month, including something for the Italian Cultural Society potluck they attend once a month.
   As with many family recipes, exact measurements are hard to come by. The senior cooks throw familiar ingredients in willy-nilly, leaving descendents scrambling to duplicate the results.
   Fortunately, Gasper's mother has been more forthcoming, but now Gasper and Ingrid are the ones who cook without measuring. Trying to put their favorite meals on paper was a challenge.
   "We practiced these recipes for a week to get the measurements," Gasper said.
   The beloved bean dish takes its place of honor on a green glass plate, which is at least 60 years old, that Gasper swiped from home.
   Ingrid removes the cooked meatballs from the skillet and places them on a paper towel. One by one, she adds them to the gravy. In a few minutes, Gasper will add the meatball-laden gravy to a bowl of pasta and gently mix it all together.
   Ingrid serves up generous portions of Cousin Antoinetta's Pasta, a slightly warm pasta salad dotted with fresh tomato chunks and infused with the aroma of plenty of fresh garlic. When Gasper's cousin flew in from Sicily to visit the Houston clan in 1997, she whipped this dish up, and it quickly became a family favorite.
   "We eat garlic with everything," Gasper said. "With us, we use more garlic than salt."
   BRUSCHETTA BREAD
   1 loaf sliced French bread
   2 to 3 medium tomatoes, diced
   ¼ cup olive oil
   ½ cup Parmesan cheese
   garlic powder, to taste
   Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush olive oil on each slice of bread. Sprinkle tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and garlic powder on each slice. Place on cookie sheet and toast in oven until bread is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.
   Yield: 10 servings
   Source: Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna
   GRANDMA MANDOLA BEANS (GREEN BEAN FRITTATA)
   2 eggs
   ¼ cup milk
   1 can cut green beans (not French cut)
   1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
   ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
   1 tablespoon garlic powder
   salt and pepper to taste
   ¼ cup Italian bread crumbs
   Coat small frying pan with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of pan with olive oil and heat on medium low for about 2 to 3 minutes. Mix eggs in a bowl with milk. Pour out juice from canned green beans and place beans on paper towels.
   Place beans in heated oil, covering the bottom of the pan with beans. Allow beans to warm, about 3 minutes, and season to taste with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Using a spatula, flatten beans in the pan. Sprinkle bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese to cover beans, but do not mix.
   Add egg and milk mixture, moving pan around so eggs cover the beans. Cook over medium low heat for 7 to 8 minutes.
   Place a plate upside down over the top of the pan, making sure dish completely covers pan. Holding panhandle and plate, flip the pan over so beans empty onto plate. The eggs and beans should be browned and firm, with a little liquid on the plate.
   Add 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil to pan and let warm for a minute or two on medium low heat. Slide the beans from the plate back into the pan and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
   Place beans on serving dish and cut into slices. Serve warm.
   Yield: 4 servings
   Source: Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna
   COUSIN ANTOINETTA'S PASTA
   3 or 4 medium tomatoes, diced
   4 small to medium cloves garlic, crushed
   2 to 3 teaspoonsItalian parsley
   12 ounces angel hair or thin spaghetti
   ½ to ¾ cup olive oil
   salt to taste
   pepper to taste
   Mix diced tomatoes, crushed garlic, parsley and ½ cup olive oil in a large bowl. Boil pasta al-dente, about 6 to 8 minutes, and strain all but small amount of water. In large bowl, mix pasta and tomato mixture. Salt and pepper to taste, and add more olive oil if needed to keep pasta moist. Serve warm with bread.
   Yield: 6 servings
   Source: Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna
   MUNGA D'ANNA'S PASTA GRAVY
   1 large onion, diced
   3 to 5 garlic cloves, diced or crushed
   5, 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
   3, 6-ounce cans tomato paste
   5, 8-ounce tomato sauce cans of water
   1 to 2 tablespoons basil
   1 to 2 tablespoons oregano
   ¼ cup sugar
   ½ tablespoon garlic powder
   salt to taste
   Cover bottom of large pot with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté until clear, about how long 3-5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, basil, oregano and sugar. Season with garlic powder and salt to taste. Simmer over low heat for 3 hours, stirring occasionally so gravy does not burn.
   Serve over boiled pasta, baked chicken or grilled chicken breasts. Gravy may be frozen for up to 1 month.
   Yield: 10 to 12 servings
   Source: Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna
   ITALIAN MEATBALLS
   1 pound lean hamburger meat
   1 egg
   ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
   ¼ cup Italian bread crumbs
   2 cloves crushed garlic
   1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
   1 teaspoon salt
   1 teaspoon pepper
   Thoroughly mix all ingredients and shape into small balls. Cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Place the meatballs in the pan with oil and cook until golden brown on each side, about 5 to 7 minutes.
   Yield: 6 to 8 servings
   Source: Gasper and Ingrid D'Anna


Contact Leanne Libby at 886-3615 or libbyl@caller.com

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