Grilling is the method of cooking that John Caramia prefers, but when the weather doesn’t cooperate, he can step into the kitchen, pull out his sheet-pans, and create an entire meal just as he does on the grill.

John comes from a cooking family and says he learned by watching his parents cook. During World War II his father, a history professor, was an officer in the Army’s culinary world. “He was sent to England and that’s where he met my mother. I was two years old when we returned to this country and made our home in New York in the Adirondack Mountains area.”

John recalls the family get-togethers. “My paternal grandparents were from Sicily. Grandfather came in 1910 and brought my grandmother over in 1914. The family salad dressing sauce was always used. Didn’t think about buying any.” He has shared the recipe here.

Following graduation from college John taught Social Studies to seventh and 12th grade students. He did his graduate studies at the University of Georgia and, ...