Putting Italy in a Jar

Posted on June 29, 2018

Neal McTighe ’07 (PhD) jiggered the three pots of simmering pasta sauce so they all would fit on the four burners of the little stove in the apartment where he lived in 2011. He wore goggles, gloves and a net over his hair as he stirred and affixed labels he’d designed for the waiting jars.

A few days later, McTighe was at The Saturday Market in Raleigh’s Boylan Heights neighborhood, serving samples, telling his story and selling the sauce that stemmed from his love of Italy, a love that began in another kitchen long ago.

That one was resplendent in yellow linoleum — the counters, the tabletop, the floors — except for a worn-through patch of white in front of the stove, where his maternal great-grandmother, Angelina Blondo, whipped up batch after batch of what she called gravy for her huge family.

The house smelled of onion, tomato and oregano. “Like heaven,” McTighe said.

But it wasn’t his great-grandmother’s cooking that led him to create Nellino’s Pomodoro, which grew out of that apartment kitchen to be named best tomato sauce by Southern Living magazine in 2016. It was a fluke of registration as an undergraduate at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Classes for his first pick of a foreign language were full, and the next table over was offering Italian, so he signed up. That circumstance, he said, has shaped the rest of his life.

McTighe studied in Italy, spending hourslong lunches sharing fabulous food and soaking in the language. He returned throughout his academic career on his way to a doctorate in Romance languages. “I knew that Italy had to be a part of my life,” he said. “So I was constantly thinking, how am I going to find a career that connects me with Italy?”

He started by blogging about Italy’s food, wine and places. People began writing back, asking for more. All along he’d had pots of his sauce bubbling on the stove for himself and his friends, so he started jarring it up and talking about it on Facebook.

Working days at Duke University Press and cooking at night, he sold three dozen jars, then made three cases more. He’d give out samples at farmers markets and at Weaver Street Market, his first grocery store, where his is now the No. 1 revenue-producing pasta sauce. He’s on track to sell more than 200,000 jars this year, through at least 1,000 retail locations, including Harris Teeter, Ingles, Whole Foods and Costco.

But McTighe is selling more than sauce. He’s selling the Italian version of a meal, slowing down and sharing it with family and friends.

“I want to bring love and conversation back to the table,” he said, with no more rushing or staring at cellphones. “This brand can be a force against that, a message of the table and of Italy, of revolting against these forces.

“This is more than just a pasta sauce,” he said. “It’s Italy in a jar.”

— Janine Latus

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Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina

1 cup of Nellino’s Marinara

1 pound gnocchi Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

4 ounces fresh mozzarella, cubed

▶ Bring pot of water to boil and cook gnocchi until they float to top.

▶ In pan, add Nellino’s Marinara and warm over medium heat.

▶ In casserole dish, add drained gnocchi, sauce and cubed mozzarella.

▶ Bake at 375 F for 5 to 10 minutes.

▶ Serve immediately, topped with freshly  grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

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