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around each portion of meat filling to make squares, or use a juice glass to make circles. (We’re doing this with cheese ravioli in these photos!) Transfer to the baking sheet and toss with the flour. Repeat with the remaining pasta and filling. (The ravioli can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead, covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerated.)
    *** Teresa’s Tip ***
    N eed to save some time on the rolling and cutting? Try a ravioli press or mold: it looks like a flat, metal ice cube tray with fancy cutouts. You roll a large piece of dough over the whole thing, spoon filling into each space, add another sheet of dough, then smoosh closed with a rolling pin. Make sure you have enough flour on the press though, so the ravioli pop right out.
     
    4. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Carefully add the ravioli and cook until they all float to the surface of the water, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain carefully in a colander.
    5. Place equal amounts of the ravioli in deep soup bowls, topping each with the tomato sauce, a dollop of ricotta, and a sprinkle of basil. Serve hot, with grated Parmigiano passed on the side.
    *** Juicy Bits from Joe ***
    S ince so many recipes in here are named for actual people, you might think this one is in honor of Tre’s co-stars Caroline or Dina from The Real Housewives of New Jersey . But it’s not. We call it “manzo” ravioli because that’s what it is: in Italian, “manzo” means “beef.” Fun fact, huh? But do me a favor and don’t call either of them “Mrs. Beef” next time you see them (although go ahead with Albie and Christopher . . .). And “Giudice”? It means “a judge” in Italian. I’m just sayin’ . . .
     

     

     

 
     
    CHAPTER 4:
     

Bread from Heaven
     
    S ince we’re on a make-it-yourself kick, I had to do a chapter on homemade Italian bread. Even if you’ve never tried to make bread before, you have to try these recipes—for the amazing way they will make your house smell alone!
    I have no actual proof of this, but I would bet that Italian bread is the most popular bread on the planet. It’s so easy to make—just flour, yeast, salt, and water—and so moist and delicious. French bread is good, but it’s long, thin, and crusty (like a lot of the “Housewives” I know). A good Italian loaf is 18-inches long, 10-inches thick, and super porous. Technically, it’s because the yeast is allowed to give off lots of gas to create those spongy holes in the bread, but I’ll tell you from an eating standpoint, we make our bread that way because it’s best for soaking up juicy toppings like olive oil and tomatoes.
    I’m going to give you my great-grandmother’s recipe for a Rustic Italian Loaf, plus a Fabulicious Focaccia, and a quick pizza crust dough recipe. Where’s the ciabatta recipe? Not here, since it’s not a traditional Italian bread. Believe it or not, ciabatta was invented as sort of a marketing gimmick in the 1980s. It was created in Italy, at least—by bread bakers who were upset that the French baguette was stealing all their business. So they came up with this funny, flat little loaf that’s way too thin for sandwiches, hard to cut, and looks nothing like the Italian word it was named for: a slipper. It’s good bread, sure, and the plan worked. But it’s just not in my family’s box of passed-down recipes.
     
     

 
     

     
    My grandmother, nicknamed “Teresa,” with my mom in 1954.

 
     
     
    ***     A Rosa By Any Other Name     ***
    M y mother, Antonia Campiglia Gorga, was raised by her grandmother (my great-grandma Rosa) because her father left when she was a baby (he went to Venezuela and never came back . . . bastard!), and her own mom (also named Rosa) died when my mom was only ten years old. A month later, her grandfather died in his bed of a broken heart for losing his only daughter. Because both my great-grandma and grandma were named “Rosa,” my grandmother’s nickname became