The mention of Italian food stirs fond memories of Madison's old Greenbush neighborhood, back when cooking aromas sifted through open kitchen windows on summer days.

Former residents will remember returning from church to homes in which a kettle of sauce seasoned with freshly grown basil simmered for the Sunday gathering of relatives. And they'll recall when the Italian and Sicilian immigrant women of the old 'Bush would spend days making tomato paste by drying tomatoes on wood boards placed strategically outdoors in the heat of the late summer sun.

For those who didn't live in the small triangular-shaped neighborhood bordered by Park and Regents streets and West Washington Avenue, family-owned Italian restaurants there enticed visitors with Old World recipes and sauce so passionately made and seasoned with herbs. These new ethnic flavors drew crowds, including servicemen from Truax Field, who waited in lines that often wrapped around nearby corners.

Not until such a scene disappears does one realize how special all of it was. When a fire destroyed Josie's Spaghetti House a few years ago, it was the finale of good times at 906 Regent St. People who recall good times and great meals served there prompt requests that continue to arrive for the sauce once made and served at Josie's, or many years before at Jimmie Puccio's Spaghetti House in the same building.

Although Josie's sauce recipe is not available, Jimmie Puccio's wife, Angie, gave me her recipe before she died to include in my Greenbush cookbooks. She said there was never a dull moment back then, and she described how Jimmie bought bushels of tomatoes at LaBarro's farm near Olin Park.

After separating seeds and skin from the pulp, spaghetti sauce would be made for the restaurant, along with a special sauce made with tomato juices, garlic, lemon, oregano, sweet basil, fresh mint and salt and pepper bottled and labeled as Jimmie's Special Steak Sauce to place on every table for customers to purchase.

For reader Bonnie Johnson, and many others who have asked for this recipe, here is a return to the past. This is almost identical to the recipe mailed a few months ago from Janice Magnuson, Verona, who received it from her cousin, Marian Jelle, a friend of Angie Puccio who shared the recipe at least 25 years ago with Jelle, in appreciation for their friendship. The great thing about sauce is that you can adjust, delete or add ingredients to please your own taste.

Jimmie's Spaghetti House Spaghetti and Meatballs

For the sauce:

4 tablespoons oil

4 garlic cloves

1 medium onion

1 can (46 ounces) tomato juice

2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste

4 paste cans of water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon basil

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the meatballs:

3 pounds ground beef

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

4 to 5 eggs

1 onion, chopped fine

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper, or to your liking

5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Sweet basil, parsley and Accent (optional)

To prepare the sauce, saut garlic and onion in oil until golden. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until done.

The recipe did not include instructions; however, meatballs can be baked in the oven and added to the sauce when done, or they can be slipped into the sauce and cooked while sauce is simmering. Or you can brown them in a small amount of oil in a fry pan before lowering them into the sauce while simmering.

Note: I read a few years ago in Gourmet Magazine that spaghetti sauce doesn 't require more than two hours of simmering to reach its peak of flavors.

The mention of soup also triggers quick responses, the most recent one pertaining to Gail Henderson's request for a "substantial" French onion soup like what she enjoyed at a Fond du Lac supper club that serves the soup with "huge croutons and a slice of melted cheese on top." Monroe reader Anna Zettle thinks that her French onion soup will fill Henderson's request. One of Anna's sisters married a Frenchman and has lived in France since the 1970s. For Christmas one year, the sister sent Anna a French cookbook printed in English and in it was a French cheese soup she added a few personal touches to and has made often. When her sister returned home for a brief visit, Anna prepared and served the soup and was told by her sister that soup that good was served only in expensive French restaurants.

French Cheese Soup

1 stick butter

3 large onions, thinly sliced

5 cans Campbell 's Beef broth (not consomm )

2 ounces quality bleu cheese

3 tablespoons brandy

1 cup good dry white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Slices of garlic toast (see note)

5-year-old grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Medium-aged shredded Swiss cheese

Melt butter in soup kettle. Add onions and cook until soft, stirring frequently. Add canned beef broth. In a small bowl, crumble bleu cheese and add brandy. Mash and work together with a fork to make it smooth, but don 't worry if there are a few lumps. When broth is hot, stir in the cheese/brandy mixture with white wine. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, being careful as the broth might be salty enough. In ovenproof soup bowls, put a couple of slices of garlic toast in each bowl. Ladle soup over the toast, and then add shredded cheeses on top. Put under broiler just until cheese melts.

Note: Leftover soup reheats nicely. Zettle likes the garlic toasts available at Pick 'n Save.

Julie Morello, Madison, remembers clipping Ronald Reagan's favorite macaroni and cheese recipe printed in the State Journal back when he was president. It became Morello's favorite, too, before the clipping disappeared. Claiming that Martha Stewart's mac and cheese is excellent, it's also more involved, so she asked if I had a copy of Reagan's recipe and, here it is.

President Reagan's Favorite Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 pound macaroni

1 teaspoon butter

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup milk

3 cups grated cheese, sharp

Boil macaroni in water until tender and drain thoroughly. Stir in butter and egg. Mix salt and mustard with 1 tablespoon hot water and add to milk. Add cheese to macaroni, leaving enough to sprinkle on top. Pour macaroni into buttered casserole; add milk and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until custard is set and top is crusty.

Recent requests: A "moist, chewy " Norwegian sugar cookie like those baked and sold at the Old World Wisconsin 's gift shop, and the Ovens of Brittany soft molasses cookie or something similar.

Contact the Cooks' Exchange in care of the Wisconsin State Journal, P.O. Box 8058, Madison, WI 53708, or by e-mail to greenbush4@aol.com. When requesting a recipe from an out-of-town restaurant, please include the restaurant address and phone number. Because of the volume of mail, not all requests can be answered.