Description

Inspired by the Parmesan cheese Mr. Guglielmo’s grandfather grated fresh every Sunday. On Sundays, when he sat down for sauce at his Grandpa Pete’s kitchen table, there was always the same centerpiece – a small mountain of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. He believed that cheese and sauce are meant for each other. So, he decided to combine the two. You’ll love this sauce if you like our traditional marinara sauce. Guglielmos took that recipe and simply added cheese, milk and cream.

Ingredients: Tomatoes, Water, Milk (1%), Cream Cheese (Pasteurized Milk & Cream, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Carob Bean Gum), Parmesan Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Onion, Butter, Tomato Paste, Olive Oil, Garlic, Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Sugar, Salt, Black Pepper, Basil, Granulated Garlic, Oregano, Parsley.

 

 

Cheesy Chicken w/ Sun-dried Tomatoes prep time 5 minutes cook time 45 minutes

You Will Need:

1 24oz jar of Guglielmo’s Rosa

1 small bottle of sun-dried tomatoes

1 small bunch of fresh basil leaves

4 chicken breasts

1 tbsp oil (for pan frying)

1 small block of parmesan cheese

1 lb. pasta

Method

1) Pour oil into large skillet on medium heat

2) Place chicken breasts in skillet and cover

3) Flip chicken breasts after 10 minutes

4) Add bottle of rosa sauce to skillet, smothering the chicken

5) Chop and add sun-dried tomatoes

6) Boil your choice of pasta and place on serving dish

7) Be sure to temp the chicken (safe cooking temp 165), once at temp, pull from skillet and place on top of pasta on serving dish

8) Poor sauce/sun-dried tomato on top

9) Add chopped fresh basil and grated parmesan on top

 

The Guglielmo Story . . . .

I can trace this recipe to at least the 1930s. My Great-Grandmother Mary Petrocelli-Guglielmo was raising a family of 10 between herself, her husband, and my Grandpa Pete and his seven brothers and sisters. It was The Great Depression and any food that could be grown instead of purchased was preferred. For that reason, my Great Grandma maintained a garden, in place of her yard.  Every inch of the yard was dedicated to growing some sort of fruit or vegetable.

Born in Italy, and being that items like tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and onions are easy to grow, one of my Great Grandmother’s signature dishes was home grown sauce.  Everything in that sauce was grown right in her garden, and pasta was just flour & egg, so this was an ideal meal during The Great Depression for a family of 10.

Her sauce was exceptional. Between the process she followed and the fresh ingredients she used, her sauce was like nothing else. Quickly, friends and family were clamoring for her to make them a batch.

Part of being Italian is absolutely loving to cook for other people. So Great Grandma Mary obliged every single request to make sauce. Always for free. At most, she would trade for another vegetable that perhaps whomever she was trading with had a large amount of. A few jars of sauce for a few ears of corn, or two jars of sauce for a dozen potatoes- you get the gist.

At first it was easy to keep up with demand, however, when my Grandpa Pete’s brothers and sisters started moving away to get married and start their own families, and when my Great Grandfather died, it was just my Great Grandma Mary and my Grandpa Pete living in that small house on West Adams St. in Conneaut, Ohio. And still, people wanted her sauce.

So my Grandpa Pete decided that it was time to help his mom. She would be out in the barn all day and all night during tomato season working and prepping. Pete quickly learned to pick up where his older sisters had left off.  It didn’t take long for him to perfect the recipe.

My Great Grandmother would eventually pass away, Grandpa Pete would marry my Grandma Lucy and they would have three kids (two boys including my father, Chuck, and one daughter). Grandpa knew how to make Mary’s sauce. It remained a tradition. He made that sauce every Sunday (leftovers on Wednesday) for his family from 1949 until…well he’s 90 years old and hasn’t stopped yet!

In 1983, I was born and I was at Grandpa Pete’s house for sauce most Sundays. At first, all I knew was that my large Italian family met on Sundays and shared this meal together.  I didn’t realize how spoiled I was to be around all of these people and to be feasting on this delicious, home grown sauce. All I knew was how much I loved this time on Sundays.

When I was in my early twenty’s, I decided to ask my Grandpa if he would show me how to make the sauce. I didn’t quite realize how rich of a family tradition I had just tapped into. Grandpa was so happy I had asked. No one had ever asked him before. He always thought the recipe would die with him.

Grandpa Pete took me under his wing and my first lesson was in the tomato fields. The rest is history…