Uncle Steve tasting his sauce
I have a soft spot for celebrity pasta sauce. First, I think jarred sauce is pretty generic so most any attempt to dress it up is likely to yield positive results. Second, I totally buy the notion of the pressured celeb taking a little time off in the kitchen and adding a little of this, a little of that till something pretty good results. (As opposed to some fancier prepared foods which I don’t think would recognize the eponymous celebrity if they met him/her on the street.)
So, when 3 jars of Uncle Steve’s red sauce showed up after the recent Fancy Food Show, I was totally willing to try them. Had some arrabiata last night over pasta with a grating of parm-reg and a steak broiled Florentine-style, and I was impressed. It has an intense tomato flavor (the tomatoes are organic, and from Italy) and a real kick in the spicy-hot department.
Uncle Steve is Steve Schirripa who played Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos, and apparently has a lively business presenting the advice, lifestyle, cooking tips of the goomba which is I gather is equivalent to what we call a “good old boy” in Texas. (I’m familiar with “gooma”, the feminine equivalent, from the show but apparently that has quite a different meaning.) They actually took my picture with Uncle Steve at the show but the print has never shown up, which is probably a good thing.
At $7.99 a jar (sold in boxes of 3 jars), it’s fairly priced though you will have to pony up for shipping if you order direct. But it’s also available in a wide variety of stores, including Whole Foods, so look for it locally. Full disclosure, I was sent 3 free jars but I did not ask for them and would not have reviewed it if I didn’t like it.
