MY NEIGHBORHOOD FOODS

During a recent visit to my hometown I had the opportunity to visit with my lifelong friend John. His late mother Mary was one of the finest Italian American cooks in my experience. During a chat on the subjects of our childhood, adolescence and early adulthood we started to discuss restaurants, food and wine as is often our custom. John told me that his mom who had passed in 1998 had written a family cookbook along with her niece. This was a must have for me!  John and his eldest sister were kind enough to provide me with a copy. I quickly consumed it….no pun intended.

Of the many meals and delicacies that Mary put on her family’s table I’m going to concentrate on two. Later I will combine some of the variations in food preparation between Mary and my grandmother Anna and my mother Leda. 

But first a little history is in order. My mother, uncle and grandmother settled in North Tarrytown, New York (now Sleepy Hollow) in 1936. My grandfather had emigrated six years earlier to earn enough money to secure their passage. They were born in the Abruzzo Region of Italy in the mountain village of Castel di Ieri. It lies in the West Central portion of the Italian peninsula. It, like all regions, has distinctive food characteristics based on its history and geography. While John's mother was born in America his maternal grandmother, Giovanna, was born in Campania. His family settled in our neighborhood much earlier than mine. During our growing years we shared hundreds of meals together between our households. Based on the aforementioned family cookbook many of Mary’s and her mother's recipes derived from the Campania Region. As a point of reference the city of Naples as well as the Amalfi coast are within the borders of this region.

While I hope to spend more time in future blogs discussing the myriad of influences on Italian and Italian American cuisine I will share just a few childhood recollections that center on the delicious foods that were to be found in our small neighborhood. For us every Sunday meal was anticipated with great delight. For me several visits to my grandmother’s kitchen as she was prepping and cooking were a must. Three or four courses were common and each was a meal in itself for the uninitiated. Many of our friends who had the pleasure of dining with us on Sunday afternoons for the first time found themselves stuffed at the end of the pasta course (secundi)! This Sunday ritual could be found at John’s home and in fact at any of the Italian and Italian American homes within our neighborhood and beyond.

Holidays were of course aided by spectacular feasts and I will be adding a variety of the food items and menus in future posts. For now I will share two of John’s grandmother’s holiday recipes as derived from his family cookbook. They were continued and in many ways perfected by his mother. A holiday visit to John’s house was also a delight to the senses of smell and taste.

The first is the recipe for Easter Pie. I selected this for several reasons. First because it is an old recipe undoubtedly derived from some much older cuisine in the Campania region of Italy. Secondly, it is a holiday food item that is common in the Italian American experience and variations can be found in nearly every Italian American Pork Store or high end Italian Market in various forms.

Here is the recipe as arranged by Mary and was a favorite of her mothers. This Italian meat pie is traditionally served by many Italian Catholics at noon the day before Easter, Holy Saturday, to mark the end of Lent.

EASTER PIE (from Mary’s recipes)

Yield: 8 pies

Prep time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total time: 1 ½ prep + 30 minutes cook time

Ingredients dough

All-purpose flour | 10 cups

Eggs | 12 large

Salt | 1 tbs

Butter or margarine | 3 Tbs

Black pepper | to taste

Ingredients filling

Cacturino (small dry sausage) | 4 lbs.

Pot cheese | 6 lbs.

Fresh Cheeses| 4 lbs. (can be a combination of fresh ricotta, mozzarella and provolone)

Butter or margarine | 3 Tbs

Prosciutto | ½ lb.

Parmesan cheese| ¾ lb. or to taste

Eggs | 6

Salt and pepper | to taste

Substitutions | replace dried meats with ham, salami, and/or add hard boiled eggs

Directions dough

Prepare the dough as if making pasta dough, mix thoroughly and kneed for approximately 10 minutes. (You can certainly substitute a kitchen aid blender for the hand process) Stretch dough to a consistency a little thinner than a pie crust. The original recipe called for the use of a hand cranked macaroni machine and the dough to be stretched in long pieces.

Directions filling

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and place on the stretched dough in 8 sections, fold the dough over the filling and cut into 8 sections, close using a fork.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown

These provide you with an idea of the Easter Pies as described in the recipe. Pies found today are baked in pie plates. I wanted to use Mary's recipe as it represented a much older form of this traditional dish.

Grandma’s Biscotti

Yield: 8 pies

Prep time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients

All-purpose flour | 3 ½ - 4 cups sifted

Baking powder | ¼ tsp

Salt | ½ tsp

Sugar | 6 heaping tsp

Olive oil | ¼ cup

Eggs | 6

Directions

Mix well dry ingredients, add eggs and oil, beat with a fork and gently push everything into the well. Mix well and knead thoroughly , let dough rest for approximately 20 minutes and then knead again gently, when dough comes away from hands you know it is done – also when dough gets blistery. I find this very relaxing. Make about four or five balls then roll lengthwise (like a fat snake) Remove dough and roll out into 2-2 1/2 inch ropes and join the ends together to form a tear drop shape. 

Drop in boiling water for 10 to 12 minutes – let stay on board for a few minutes after taking out of the boiling water. Then bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

(While Mary and her mother called these biscotti they are most often referred to as Taralli. They are almost like a cracker, bread stick and pretzel all rolled into one, but better. In various regions of Italy and among various Italian American households many ingredients can be added, i.e. cracked pepper, wine, sugar, fennel seeds, etc.)

While Mary's recipe refers to these as biscotti they are more often called tarilli

MY GRANDMOTHER'S STRAWBERRY CAKE 

During most holiday meals and whenever it struck her fancy Anna would bake the finest Pan di Spana (Italian Sponge Cake) I have ever enjoyed anywhere including restaurants in Rome, Florence or Capri and certainly anywhere here in America. That being said the recipe that follows is merely my attempt at repeating a recipe that comes close but is not exact

The first days of Spring in central Italy especially in towns in Lazio produce the most favored crops of fragolina di bosco, wild strawberries. This region has been producing these berries for over a thousand years. Perfecting their use in recipes such as this one is a marvel.

Pan di Spagna (Italian Sponge Cake) di Fragole

Yield: 1 cake (8 or 9 inch)

Prep time: 30 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes + 40 minutes cook time

Ingredients cake

Unsalted butter | 1 stick (1/2) cup

Cake flour (not self-rising) | 2 cups plus extra for pan dusting

Baking powder | 2 tsp

Salt | ½ tsp

Granulated sugar 1 cup

Eggs | 3 at room temperature for 30 minutes

Vanilla extract | 1 ½ tsp

Whole milk | 1 cup

Ingredients filling

Granulated sugar | 5 ½ tbls

Limoncello | ¼ cup

Fresh lemon juice | 1 tbls

Strawberries (small trimmed) | 1 pound

 Heavy cream | 1 ¼ cups

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting and mint leaves for garnish

Directions for cake

Heat oven to 350° with rack in the middle. Lightly grease 2 (8 or 9 inch) cake pans with butter and dust with flour. Into a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined, and then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk in four batches; beat until just combined.

Divide batter between cake pans, spreading evenly with the spatula. Bake until cakes begin to pull away from size of pans and testers inserted into centers come out clean, 20 to 25 minutes (tops of cakes will be pale in color) cool 5 minutes in pan on wire rack, then invert onto rack and cool completely.

Directions for filling

In a small saucepan, combine 3 tablespoons sugar, Limoncello, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon water; heat over medium heat, whisking, just until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

With tops of cakes facing up and avoiding outer 1/2 inch border poke both cakes all over with tines of a fork. Brush with syrup.

Sliced half of the strawberries. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat cream and 2 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar to stiff peaks. Cover 1 cake with 1/2 of the cream, leaving a 1 inch border. Arrange sliced berries on top. Top with the second cake layer. Cover with remaining cream, leaving a 1 inch border. Top with whole berries then dust with confectioner sugar garnish with mint

My grandmother's strawberry sponge cakes, Pan di Spagna were without compare.