Poetry, Rhyming Recipe, Theme Prompt, Writing Prompts

La Salsa di Pomodoro: A Rhyming Recipe for Traditional Italian Tomato Sauce

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for David’s Wea’ve Written Weekly.
As PoW, my choice for this challenge was
 to write a rhyming recipe using couplets.
Here’s where the prompt took me. Buon Appetito!

“A tavola non si invecchia” –
At the table, one does not grow old.

Image by Me & Copilot

Gather ’round, my friends, and listen well,
For a tale of tomato sauce I’m about to tell.
A recipe passed down through generations of love,
A gift from the Italian kitchen, blessed from above.

Pour a glass of wine, let the Chianti breathe,
While the scent of garlic starts the air to weave.
For no Italian kitchen comes alive without
The warmth of vino rosso …. of that there’s no doubt!

Take one fat clove of garlic, crush it well with care,
Then drop it in the skillet, let its perfume fill the air.
With one to two tablespoons of golden olive oil,
Sauté for just one minute …. watch it closely, don’t let it spoil!

When fragrance fills the kitchen, when the garlic starts to sing,
Add fifteen ounces canned tomatoes, let the good stuff in!
Rinse the can with water, one or two tablespoons will do,
Let nothing go to waste …. Nonna is watching you!

Now if the chunks feel stubborn or if the texture isn’t right,
Get your trusty potato masher, crush them with all your might!
A smoother, silkier sauce awaits beneath your hand,
A velvety red river …. just as Nonna planned.

Pinch the salt in gently, let it season through and through,
Then simmer low for twenty minutes, there’s more for you to do.
While the sauce is bubbling softly, set your pasta water on,
Boil it up with plenty of salt before the sauce is gone!

Now tear your crusty bread and pour another glass of wine,
For patience is a virtue; the sauce will cook in its own time.
Let it reduce and deepen, let the flavors find their way,
This is not fast food, amici; this is the Italian way!

When the sauce has thickened gently and the pasta’s cooked al dente,
Turn the heat off, scatter basil, fresh and fragrant …. add it gently!
Splash a ladle of pasta water to make the sauce less thick;
Toss the pasta and mix completely. Si, amici! That’s the trick!

Now call your dear friends to the table and light the candles bright,
Bring the bread, the wine, the Parmesan grated fresh and white.
Let the cheese snow down like winter on each steaming, saucy bowl,
For this is more than dinner, friends …. it’s food that feeds the soul.

Buon Appetito! 🍷🍅🧄

NAR©2026
#W3

Nancy’s Notes: Serves 4 with love, wine, bread, and Parmigiano Reggiano. Now go make that sauce, pour that wine, and tear that bread! And don’t be shy with the Parmigiano! 🧀🍝🥖🍷

This is “Angelina” by Louis Prima

W3 Prompt #208: Wea’ve Written Weekly

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, except where otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

25 thoughts on “La Salsa di Pomodoro: A Rhyming Recipe for Traditional Italian Tomato Sauce”

  7. Angelina was my grandmother’s name. She would get this bashful smile on her face when my father and his brothers would sing this to her. Wonderful old memory. Thanks for this, Nancy.

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  10. How delicious Nance – I’m definitely going to try your recipe for my tomato sauce next time! And love your poem too this line in particular made me smile
    ‘Let nothing go to waste …. Nonna is watching you!’ 🩷

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