By Marc Bona

Being 100 percent Italian, I was raised on traditional dishes. I took in the rich aromas of garlic and cheeses that wafted throughout the house, tore off bits of fresh Italian bread as I stole through the kitchen, and appreciated sauces that took all day to simmer.

With it came occasional cooking lessons. A little salt here, more oil there, stir occasionally, watch the pasta. And never, ever, overdo sugar in the gravy. Yes, we called it gravy, not sauce. A pinch of sugar, I was told, was used in the old country only to weed out the sourness of a bad tomato.

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