food and family in an italian american tradition

May 24, 2020

Two posts about cooking in an Italian American tradition from Salem State students Julia Afflito and Jennifer Cook! Julia shares her dad's sauce with meatballs and Jennifer remembers her great-grandmother's pizzelles.

Baked Pasta with Homemade Sauce by Julia Afflito

“If you want a hot meal, supper’s ready!” These familiar words called up the stairs and reached down the hallway every evening throughout my childhood. We kids, seven in total, would hurry down to get to the table first, as my father announced that dinner was ready.This familiar call continues to bring my family together every night, since the pandemic has brought us all togetheragain -- back under one roof. Returning from our own busy lives at college, where we’ve been carving out our own identities, figuring out who we are and what we want to be in the world as individuals, we find ourselves once again around the family table. Laughter as we joke around helps to make the time past and the long days easier. Each evening, coming together to share a meal and conversation has brought normalcy to our lives in a very abnormal time.

Growing up, one of our favorite things to do together as a family was to ‘help’ prepare a meal with my father that everyone could enjoy later. It was always something I looked forward to on the weekends. Getting in the kitchen to make fresh pasta, sauces, and even desserts on occasion. For me, learning family recipes and being able to prepare them are some of my favorite memories of my childhood and helped me to feel connected to my heritage. It also continues to be one of my favorite things to do with my family. As we are all quarantined together, we have reverted back in many ways to the same routines of those days’ past as we continue to enjoy our traditional family recipes just the same. My father’s baked ziti has always been one of our favorites. Most of my father’s recipes are just him being creative in the kitchen, however much of the inspiration comes from the food his mother, father, and grandmother passed down to him. This recipe is no different, as it combines aspects of the traditional Italian dishes that were passed down through our family, with whatever we have available to us at home. In this sense, it is perfect for a time like this, when going out to the store may not always be an option. As a family, this is one dish we have shared a few times throughout the course of the last couple of months as it is perfect for a large family, always supplies leftovers, and is very versatile. During these uncertain times, food continues to be a source of comfort which brings everyone together and this dish in particular seems to epitomize this feeling. Trying to get seven children to agree on something to eat, often seemed nearly impossible, but this recipe always seemed to do the trick. Everyone sitting down to enjoy this pasta dish together somehow feels just the same as it did all those years ago.

Ingredients for Sauce:

1/8 of a cup Olive Oil

1 6lb 12oz can of Crushed canned tomatoes

1 minced onion

3 stalks of celery minced

3-4 gloves of garlic minced

Crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

1 tbsp. Dried oregano

½ cup White or red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of sauce:

1. Heat pot with olive oil.

2. Add sausages and cook through. While these are cooking boil eggs in separate pan.

3. Remove sausage from pan and sauté onion, celery, garlic, oregano, and hot red pepper flakes until softened over medium heat.

4. Deglaze pan with wine and allow to reduce slightly (enough to burn off alcohol) about 2 minutes.

5. Add crushed tomatoes to pan season with salt and black pepper to taste. Lower heat to simmer, allow to cook for one hour.

6. Continue to stir the sauce occasionally to prevent it from sticking.

Grandma’s Recipe:

Ingredients: (makes 20-24 cookies)

• 2 eggs

• A pinch of salt

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 6 tbsps butter, melted and cooled

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract/anise/almond (my personal favorite is using vanilla)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Materials: 2 large mixing bowls (one for the wet ingredients and one for the dry ingredients), an electric beater, a mixing spoon, and a pizzelle iron

Directions:

Step 1

In a large bowl, beat eggs and salt, with the blender, until the eggs get frothy. Add in the sugar, vanilla (or other flavoring), and butter to the egg mixture. Beat thoroughly and make sure the ingredients are combined. Mix the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl then add that mixture to the liquids, one spoonful at a time using a spoon to mix (not the blender).

Step 2

Heat the pizzelle iron, and spray with oil. Drop about one tablespoon of batter onto each circle on the iron. You should try to place the batter in the center of the circle. You may need to experiment with the amount of batter and baking time depending on the iron. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes, or until steam is no longer coming out of the iron. Carefully remove cookies from the iron. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

The names of the people included in the picture are Lucy DiPalma (my great-grandmother), Nancy Cook (my mother) and myself: circa 2004.

Julia Afflito and Jennifer Cook are Salem State University history students.