- [Sal] So you're gonna take over the store or you're gonna play hockey?

Which one are you gonna do?

- Both.

- [Sal] Oh, both?

- [Giovanni] When I'm older and you get rid of the business, I'm gonna take care of the business.

- [Sal] Aw!

(laughs) - [Chrissy] Aww.

- [Chrissy] I'm chef Chrissy Camba.

From running restaurants to cooking for the circus, nothing excites me more than feeding people.

As a first-generation Filipino American, the flavors from my family's kitchen make me feel at home.

Join me as I explore cultural grocery stores in the US and discover the recipes and stories that make this country's flavors so rich.

This is "The Grocery List Show."

(pleasant music) Piccolo's Gastronomia Italiana is a charming, two-generation, family-owned grocery store located in Ridgefield, New Jersey.

Ridgefield, New Jersey used to have an abundant Italian community back when the store opened.

But like many ethnic enclaves, the area has changed over and become a home to new immigrant groups, largely Korean and Hispanic.

Piccolo's remains the staple Italian store and folks still come back from far and wide to get their high-quality groceries.

Nice to meet you!

- Nice to meet you.

- I'm just snacking on the free stuff that's over there.

(Nancy laughs) Nancy is co-owner with her brother Sal.

Their parents founded the business in 1977 and have been in this location for over 30 years.

- [Nancy] I feel like it's, like, a little mini mart of Italian products, right?

- Yeah, I love it so much!

- [Nancy] I mean, a little bit of everything.

People always ask me, like, "Oh, I've been looking, you know, for olive oils," or, the different cuts of pasta.

"This can of tomato, this type of brand, - Yeah.

-all over the country, and they told me that you're the one that has it."

I can show you around.

- Really?

- Yes, absolutely!

So this is my favorite aisle.

There's all the imported tunas.

I totally love jar tuna.

That's, like, my go-to in the summer, when I don't feel like cooking.

And these are balsamic vinegar, white vinegar, olive oils, all from different countries, Greek, Spanish, and Italian mainly.

This is the refrigerator (Chrissy yells) where you smell everything.

- And there like... - These are all the Parmesan, the prosciuttos, all that fun stuff.

- [Chrissy] Who's this?

- Oh my goodness, this is a customer's daughter!

Ooh!

(speaking Italian) Che bella.

Say "ciao!"

(girl speaking in Italian) - [Chrissy] Just when I thought this place couldn't get any more special, I found out that they have been making their own in-house mozzarella since the store opened.

Along with passing the store down to the kids, Nancy's father passed the mozzarella-making torch down to her brother, Sal, who makes fresh cheese nearly every day of the week.

- [Nancy] My brother's making mozzarella right now.

- Really.

Yes, I do!

- Do you wanna come see?

- Absolutely, that's awesome!

- I'm so excited!

(screeches) - Yes, all right, let's go.

- Hello!

- Sal, this is Chrissy.

- [Sal And Chrissy] Nice to meet you.

- She loves cheese, so she wants to see how you make the mozzarella.

- Ah, well she's just in time.

All right, so we start it from a curd.

My father's been using the same one since he opened up the business.

You want-- - Yeah, of course!

- So, you know, as you start further back, I mean, I kinda-- - Further back, like, there.

- There you go.

- Okay, and you learned this when, how, you were how old?

- [Sal] Probably around seven when my father first started me doing exactly what you're doing, cutting the curd.

- [Chrissy] So never directly on the curd?

- [Sal] Never directly on the curd because you don't want to melt it.

- [Chrissy] This is the most exciting thing that's happened in my life.

When are your kids gonna start doing this?

- [Sal] My six-year-old son has already started helping.

Giovanni, come here baby!

Oh!

- Hi!

He's like a mini version of you.

- [Sal] Yeah!

(Chrissy laughs) And put in baba's hand, let me see.

A little bit more.

Okay, and now this curd is ready to go.

- Wow, okay.

- So what you're gonna do is, you're gonna pull it and don't stretch it too much.

As you go down, you're pulling back a little bit - Okay.

- and you're stretching it this way.

You wanna try?

- Yeah!

- There you go.

- And then what do I do, pull this?

- And then you're gonna, yeah, you're gonna stretch it out to the sides-- - Oh, I made a mark!

I put a hole in it!

- No, that's fine, don't worry, don't worry.

- Okay.

Form it, you know how to do it, right?

Keep going!

- So cute!

- Don't throw-- - Ahh (Chrissy laughs) - Okay!

And we're gonna push underneath, yep, yep.

- And then go in here?

- And cut it out, yep.

- [Chrissy] Cut it out.

- [Sal] There you go!

- [Chrissy] That's gonna be the worst looking one.

- Hey listen, we'll-- - I'll buy out one!

(Chrissy laughs) - We'll, we'll... - [Sal] And then we can even do the nodini-- - That's amazing!

- So we can give it a nice look.

That's it, that's the process.

- Thank you!

This is so beautiful.

Thank you for sharing this.

Everyone can go on vacation, - That's it.

- I will take care of the mozzarella.

This is, like, my favorite thing.

- [Nancy] Did you have fun with my brother?

- You basically made my dream come true.

I've always wanted to learn how to make mozzarella.

- I've never touched it, that's so funny.

- Are you serious?

- Oh no, I'm not putting my hands in that hot water.

- I got offered a job.

I'm supposed to be here at eight tomorrow.

- No, I thought you were coming over tomorrow.

I'm gonna show you how to make the sauce.

- Oh, that's right!

- Yes.

- [Chrissy] Nancy is gonna show me her delicious homemade version of pasta puttanesca, a quick and flavorful tomato-based sauce she frequently makes for her family.

- When you're in a jam and you gotta make a quick sauce, puttanesca's the thing for me to make.

This is where all the anchovies - Oooh!

- that we're probably gonna use tomorrow for the puttanesca.

A jar of capers, which I like to use.

The olives we'll have to get in the deli counter 'cause I like to pit them fresh.

They're called Gaeta olives.

They're just so easy to pit.

You just squeeze the side and they come right out, so for me, it's all about quick.

It's a quick sauce.

Oh, I need anchovy paste -Yep.

- and I use a little bit of tomato paste too, just to thicken up when I sauté my garlic and the olives and capers and anchovies.

I'll show you tomorrow.

- I have so many questions tomorrow.

- Yes!

These are the passata tomatoes, which is pureed.

But we're gonna be using my mother-in-law's.

I'm gonna show you, my mother-in-law jars her own tomato sauce, so we'll use her passata tomatoes on top of the canned tomato that I like.

So let's get our pasta.

I'm gonna do the mafaldini.

This is the pasta with the two ridges.

We'll do this tomorrow.

- Very cool.

- [Nancy] I think we got everything!

- [Chrissy] Thank you, - Yes.

- I can't wait for tomorrow.

- [Nancy] I know, I can't wait.

FYI, don't ask me for measurements because that's not the way I cook.

- No, I love how that, - Okay, yeah.

my family's like that too.

- It's the worst, I know, the worst.

My daughter - No, it's the best.

- always tells me, she's like, "Mom, you never teach us how to make things."

I said, "Francesca, you just need to look and watch and learn."

(Chrissy laughs) And I think I got that from my dad a little bit.

I'm just going to sauté the garlic really quick.

- [Chrissy] And what kind of olive oil did you use?

- [Nancy] Extra virgin.

- [Chrissy] Okay.

(oil sizzling) - The more olives, the better.

It's just more of a taste.

I like to make the olives crispy.

- Very cool.

- I'm just putting in the capers now.

I try to use non-salted capers and if I can't find them, then I just rinse them out.

And here are my anchovies.

- That's my favorite part.

- Again, this is just my thing.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna put a little bit of tomato paste and a little bit of more anchovy paste.

- [Chrissy] I love it.

- I've been going to Italy since I was seven.

- Wow!

- My parents, my father's family lives outside of the city of Naples.

He stressed the importance of me having some type of relationship with my family there in Italy.

- [Chrissy] And you're doing that for your kids too, right?

- Yes.

So I mix a chunky tomato and I also use passato, which means it's pureed.

I just pulled a few plum tomatoes 'cause, like I said, I like this sauce to be a little chunky.

So I just do this with my hands.

I know, it looks gross, but it's a must.

- No!

- And I take, like, the veins out of the tomato.

It's just a little something, crazy things that I do that my dad taught me or just watching him cook.

My mom is known to give out recipes.

Like, she's always trying to teach people how to cook.

And now I'm doing it.

My parents had the store when I was born, so I've had customers that have known me since I was 15 or even younger, actually.

I have one guy that's known me since I was two.

When I tell them I have a kid in college, they're like, "Oh my god, I can't believe that!"

I'm just gonna throw in the parsley now because this should be almost done.

- Wow, already?

- Yeah, like 15, 20 minutes, yeah.

It's just you and I, so I'm just gonna probably just put a half a pound.

- [Chrissy] So that's how you measure it?

- [Nancy] Yeah, I wing it.

I use this pasta because this pasta's the pasta that my father always used when we had this sauce.

- [Chrissy] It looks so pretty.

And you don't put cheese on this?

- I guess there are people that like to put cheese on this, but I do not like any cheese on this.

If anything, let's put some, are you okay with a little extra spice?

- Yes!

- [Nancy] Just a little bit.

There we go.

- That looks gorgeous.

- Perfect, let's go eat.

So I have customers that are constantly bringing me little gifts.

- What kind of grape did they use?

- Oh, I have no idea, Chris, I just say, "Thank you!"

Salute!

- Salute!

Thank you for having me at your house and showing me how to make puttanesca!

- Oh my god, I've had such a great time, absolutely!

So I always need a spoon when I have long pasta... - Yes, I need to know pasta etiquette.

- [Nancy] You got it?

- [Chrissy] Mmmm.

- [Nancy] Mmmhmm.

- You can taste the-- - [Both] Anchovies.

- And, like, the little bit of garlic.

- the paste.

- The noodles really do cling onto the sauce.

- Mhm, and that's one of the reasons why, I think, my father decided, years ago, when I first started making this, is to use this noodle 'cause you see how the sauce just sticks onto this noodle and the ridges and everything and I love it.

- What are we gonna make next?

- Oh, what are we gonna make next?

Hmm.

- Sandwiches maybe?

- Sandwiches.

-More sandwiches.

- You know, I've been on a sandwich kick.

- Or I could teach you how to make rabbit.

- Well, okay, so here's the thing.

- Rabbits.

- I used to have rabbits as pets.

- Oh!

- But it's okay, it's okay!

You know, it's been a long time.

(both laughing) - It's so cute!

- The bunny, okay!

(upbeat music) (upbeat music ends)