Imagine yourself a newlywed, making dinner for your husband, a gentleman of Italian extraction. Let’s say it’s spaghetti and you make it the way your mother made it. Let’s say he doesn’t mince words.

"I made it Japanese style, what we grew up with — with hamburger and tomato sauce. He said, ‘This is NOT spaghetti!’"

Thus began Joyce Fasi’s adventures in meat sauce, a quest of many months to satisfy her husband, Frank, the future mayor of Honolulu.

She cooked; he tasted. He called up memories of the spaghetti of his childhood; she cooked again. Eventually he gave the recipe his approval.

For all that, though, she didn’t write the recipe down, always cooking by taste. But sometime after her husband became mayor in 1968, one of the local newspapers asked for her recipe. "Because of that request years ago, I had to go back and come up with some kind of recipe."

Dennis Tanimoto recalled seeing the recipe in the late ’60s or early ’70s and asked whether it could be resurrected. His request was published here.

Patricia Sardinha sent a copy of the original clipping, titled "Joyce Fasi’s Taste-as-You-Go Sauce," although it lacks a date and the name of the paper. "I’ve made it several times and my family loves it," Sardinha wrote.

Carolyn Mau sent another copy, from the 1977 "Hawaii’s Friends of the YWCA" cookbook.

I reviewed the formula with Fasi, and it is clear that both Sardinha and Mau have the real deal.

The hearty tomato sauce includes a couple of pork chops and chicken thighs simmered until they basically fall apart and become one with the sauce. It is flavored heavily with fennel and anise seeds, "so it has a particular flavor that other sauces don’t have," Fasi said. The meatballs are huge things, made with lean ground beef, Romano cheese, onions and parsley flakes.

The sauce is still a favorite in the Fasi family, although it has evolved. "With every recipe, as the years go by and you become busy — or lazy — you start doing it the cut-short way," Fasi said. The current version uses Italian sausage in place of the pork chops and chicken thighs, and she’s even used a bottled sauce at times, doctored with her usual spices.

Now in her late 70s, Fasi no longer cooks, leaving that to her children. Son David is particularly adept at the sauce.

"Pilates, yoga and trying to play a decent game of golf" take up her time, she said, as well as baby-sitting the grandkids. "All of my children are better cooks."

JOYCE FASI’S SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

1 (29-ounce) can tomato puree

2 (30-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

2 quarts water

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 to 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 to 2 tablespoons anise seeds

1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1-2 bay leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

2 bone-in pork chops

2 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed

1 beef soup bone (optional)

Pinch baking soda

Salt and pepper, to taste

3 pounds dry spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

» Meatballs:

2 pounds lean ground beef

4 slices stale bread, torn in small pieces, moistened with water if very dry

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1 cup finely diced onion

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine tomato puree, tomatoes and their juices, water, garlic and spices in large pot. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

Heat oil in skillet. Add pork chops and brown, then add to pot. Brown chicken thighs and add to pot with oil from skillet. Add soup bone if using, and pinch baking soda to help cut tartness of tomatoes. Cover and let simmer on very low heat, 3-4 hours, tasting frequently to adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and spices. Sauce should taste of anise (a licoricelike flavor).

To make meatballs: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in large bowl and mix lightly by hand. Form into 24 meatballs, about 2 inches in diameter. Place on rimmed baking sheet and add water to about 1/4-inch deep. Bake 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

When chicken and pork are very tender, remove bones and soup bone. Shred meat and return to pot. Gently add meatballs. Serve over cooked spaghetti. Serves at least 12.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving:800 calories, 22 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 150 mg cholesterol, 720 mg sodium, 102 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 8 g sugar, 47 g protein

Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. Write "By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com