Est. 1937 - When the hungry Sicilian met the passionate Calabrese.
The Magic of Marinara: The grandchildren’s perspective…
Every Italian home has a sauce matriarch or patriarch. For us, it was our grandmother Rachel Cerrillo Lagana. Valerie remembers our grandmother making a quick sauce in her cast iron frying pan pouring in oil, adding garlic, chopped basil leaves from her garden, fresh or canned whole plum tomatoes, salt, pepper and sprinkles of Locatelli cheese. With an old fork, she broke the tomatoes and stirred the ingredients as the sauce came to temperature. Occasionally, my grandfather, Joseph Lagana would taste the sauce and suggest ingredients (usually basil or salt) to improve the flavor.
Jeannine has memories of two pots of sauce on the stove, after coming in the house from staking and tying tomatoes in the garden. We still have that 1940s Maytag Dutch Oven, as clean as Grandma kept it.
On another occasion, Karin spent time in the garden with her grandfather Joseph Lagana and her grandmother learning to pick the right tomatoes, basil, and other fresh herbs specifically grown to make fresh sauce in preparation for Sunday.
Beyond cooking sauce straight from the garden, it was an annual tradition to can all the tomatoes grown to be used all winter long. Jon recalls seeds from Italy used to grow the tomatoes. The seeds would be extracted from the tomatoes while canning, dried, stored and used for the next growing season, a practice our mother continues.
For Chris, it was always a second helping or maybe a little meatball sandwich covered in sauce. Pasta flooded in marinara, it’s the menu item that continues in his family today, every holiday or gathering.
And for me…it was the food, the family, the chaos, the passion and never did I appreciate it more than I do now. As busy as I was during my childhood, I didn’t miss much. Our grandparents showed us how ingredients go together for the one common goal, to eat. Two tables stretched between two rooms, table was set, and the food was served, grace was said. Capellini was the pasta of choice, meatballs, sausage, salad made from iceberg lettuce and Columbus Bakery Bread were the staple items. Food was passed back and forth until everyone’s plate was filled and eating commenced.
So, how did we get here?
I’m introduced to a young man named Jared and we shared many food discussions. Marinara sauce was always at the top.
Together, with his lead, we modernized an old fashion family recipe with the common goal of keeping families eating together.
Where to buy 24oz. jars of Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara:
20 East – Cazenovia, NY
Ascioti’s Market – Solvay, NY
Bob’s Meat Market-St. Albans, VT
Calico Gals – Syracuse, NY
Chanatry’s Hometown Market – Utica, NY
CP Cash & Carry-Cortland, NY
Daddy Al’s General Store – Oneonta, NY
Foothill Hops Farm Brewery – Munnsville, NY
Green Hills Farm Stores – Syracuse, NY
Green Planet Grocery – Syracuse, NY
GreenStar Food Co+op - Ithaca, NY
Liehs & Steigerwald – Syracuse, NY
Lombardi’s Import Market – Syracuse, NY
Lorenzo’s Wholesale Foods – Syracuse, NY
Mazzye’s Meats – Liverpool, NY
Nichol’s Supermarkets – Liverpool, NY
Nojaim Bros. Supermarkets – Marcellus, NY
Off The Muck Market – Canastota, NY
Olive Branch Flowers – Chittenango, NY
Ontario Orchards – Oswego, NY
Paul’s Big M Supermarket – Oswego, NY
P&C Fresh-Cortland, NY
Spera’s – Cicero, NY
Swank by Design – Hamilton, NY
Thanos Import Market – Syracuse, NY
Utica Bread – Utica, NY
Vermont Green Mountain Specialty Co – Skaneateles, NY
Several American Legion & VFW Posts
Grand Union Supermarkets:
Cooperstown, NY, Cortland, NY, Norwich, NY, Owego, NY, Peru, NY, Rome, NY, Rutland, VT, Saranac Lake, NY, Sherrill, NY, Warrensburg, NY, Watertown, NY
Recipes
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Ingredients
(2-3) 24 oz. Jars Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara Sauce
(1) 28 oz. can Italian Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes – With Juices
2 lbs. Ground Hamburger
1 lbs. Italian Sausage (Sweet, Medium, or Hot) your choice
(1) Large Sweet Onion – Chopped
(3) Garlic Cloves – Chopped
(2) Celery Stalks – Chopped
(2) Carrots – Chopped
(1) Zucchini – Chopped
(1) Bell Pepper, Red, Yellow, or Green – Chopped
(1) 15.5 oz. can White Kidney (Cannellini) Beans – rinsed
Salt – To Taste
Pepper – To Taste
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Directions:
In a medium saucepan, cook the ground beef and sausage, drain excess water and rinse (optional).
Transfer to 8-quart saucepan, combine chopped onions, garlic, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. Add
2-3 jars of Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce and whole peeled tomatoes with juice. Stir. Combine
remaining ingredients. Bring to a medium boil and simmer slowly stirring often for about an hour.
Notes:
If it seems too thick, add another jar of Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce or water.
Crock pot friendly.
Use your favorite vegetables.
Garnish with:
Fage Plain Greek Yogurt
Sour Cream
Cheddar Cheese
Pecorino Romano Cheese
Columbus Bakery Bread for dipping
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• 1 24 oz. Jar of Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara Sauce
• 1lb. of ground beef, pork, veal, or lamb or a combination there of
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1 medium/large Spanish (sweet) onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of Chianti wine
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp butcher cut black pepper
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Butter
• 1 lb. Tagliatelle pasta
• Asiago CheeseHeat a large skillet or braising pan until drops of water beads when introduced to the skillet. In a separate pot, boil water for pasta, add salt to taste. In a large heated skillet, add the oil, stir in the diced vegetables maintaining medium heat. When onions appear translucent, add meat and seasonings stirring frequently. After cooking, drain excessive grease from pan. Deglaze pan with Chianti wine, and reduce accordingly, add one jar of Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce stirring frequently. Cook pasta al dente, strain, add to Bolognese sauce with two tbsps. of butter, remove from heat. Stir until silky. Serve in a bowl and garnish with Asiago cheese.
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• 1 Jar of Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara sauce
• 1.5 lbs. of boneless chicken thighs
• 1 Small onion
• 1 Box De Cecco Mezzi Rigatoni
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 Cup of diced Cremini mushrooms
• 1 Shallot
• 1 Roasted red bell pepper
• 1 Green bell pepper
• 2-3 pickled cherry peppers-rinsed
• 1 Italian long hot pepper
• 1 Shot vodka of your choice
• 1 Cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. of cardamon
• Black pepper
• 1 tsp. Mascarpone
• Olive oil
• Kosher SaltHeat a large skillet and bring a separate pot of water to boil for the pasta. Heavily salt the pasta water resembling sea water. Trim and rough chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Roughly chop the bell peppers, long hots, onion, and remaining garlic and place on a sheet tray. Season generously with Olive oil and salt along with enough water to form a thin layer on sheet pan and roast in oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until soft. Peel shallot, one clove of garlic and combine with mushrooms in a food processor creating a Duxelle. In the pre-heated skillet, combine the Duxelle, diced chicken and cherry peppers. Immediately stir in two tbsps. of olive oil along with salt, pepper, and seasonings. Be quick and avoid burning as the chicken should almost be sticking to the pan while searing. Meanwhile add the pasta to the water and cook al dente. When the chicken is 60% cooked, carefully add the vodka to avoid flame. Once the alcohol evaporates, add the roasted vegetables and Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce. Cook to reduce mixture for one minute. Add heavy cream returning to a light simmer. Combine the cooked pasta once ready. Add two tbsps. of butter and remove from heat, toss until silky appearance. Plate and serve with PARMESAN cheese for a soft creamy texture.
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• 1 Jar of Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara Sauce
• 1-2 Heirloom tomatoes (large round tomatoes work also)
• 1 Carrot
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Poblano Pepper
• 1 Spanish onion
• 1 Red Bell pepper
• Heavy Cream
• Fresh Parsley
• Fresh Thyme
• Bay leave
• Fresh basil
• Kosher Salt
• Olive OilWash and prepare the vegetables then chop into quarters leaving the skin on onions, tomatoes, carrots and peppers. Place vegetables on sheet tray, season with olive oil, salt, pepper, along with sprigs of thyme and basil leaves. Place in oven at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes roasting ingredients until charring appears. In a large pot, warm one jar of Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce with bay leaf. Remove tray of vegetables from oven, transfer to food processor and puree until smooth. Remove bay leaf from sauce and stir in pureed mixture and return to simmer. Puree will thicken signaling the addition of heavy cream. Add heavy cream to your liking and simmer gently to avoid separation. After two minutes of simmering, using an immersible blender, process mixture until smooth consistency. This will naturally thicken the bisque to your desired consistency. Garnish with chiffonade* cut basil with a single drop of chili oil if desired.
*Chiffonade-meaning to cut into long thin strips.
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• 1 Jar of Lagana & Cerrillo Marinara sauce
• Fresh loaf of Italian bread
• Fresh Basil
• Olive oil
• Kosher Salt
• Sundried Tomatoes
• Fresh ParmesanAt an angle, cut the Italian bread to 1” thick slices. Place slices on a sheet tray, season with olive oil and salt. Be generous with the olive oil as you want the bread to soak up the oil allowing to crisp up during grilling. Place bread slices on a grill, griddle, or cast-iron pan whichever is readily available in your kitchen. Grill the bread until leaving charred sear marks developing a flavor profile. Once toasted, place the bread on a platter and dress with Lagana & Cerrillo marinara sauce. Cover the entire top of the bread slices with the sauce, add fined chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil over the top and garnish with chiffonade basil and parmesan cheese.
