Regional dishes, cooking styles

[AngelaGrace56]

We use to grow our own scarole at home and it was often used in minestra or sometimes as a salad. It is suppose to be very good for you, but I always found it very bitter and kept adding lots of home made cheese to disguise the bitter taste. Your recipe here with the sultanns and the anchovies is quite an interesting combination. Maybe together they disguise the bitterness of the scarole.

Angela

Sometimes my grandmother would go out and harvest dandelions and wild arugula (we called it "rughetta" in our dialect) that grows as a weed here in SoCal.

She would add olive oil, fresh lemon juice (we always had a lemon tree) salt & pepper. That was her typical personal salad.

I didn't like the bitterness of the greens either...

Aragula, I do like. It has a nutty flavour. My mother would’ve made a garlic/vinegar/oil/pepper dressing for it. I seldom use dressings on salads but next time I have some Aragula I shall try it with fresh lemon juice and olive oil like your grandmother.

We had a trusty lemon tree too – my friends and I would sit and chat under the lemon tree and have delicious afternoon teas there in the summer (provided by my amazing mother). And of course both cold and hot lemon drinks were always enjoyed.

Like you I also grew up on Italian cuisine. Both my parents were born in Italia and there were many Italians living in our area and also our street. Most of us were either from Potenza or Napoli. All my close friends at school were Italian and we keep in touch regularly by phone.

Growing up, we had a huge vegetable and herb garden: peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, marrow, potatoes, artichokes, fennel, oregano, basil etc. When the various crops were plentiful they were either frozen, bottled, sun dried or preserved in some way to use during the off-season. A lot was shared with others, as well, of course.

I’ve enjoyed reading through the posts here and reminiscing. Some of the dishes mentioned are quite different to what I’ve been use to, which is good, because I’m always keen to try new ideas; and other dishes are similar:

Meatballs – basically beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, egg to bind
(I make Pork Meatballs based on the Italian Pork Sausages recipe that my family made – basically pork, fennel, caynne peper, garlic, egg to bind. (Egg is not used in Italian Sausages of course.) These have always been a real with my son’s friends.)

Bracciole – basically lamb flap stuffed with garlic, parsley, seasoning, grated home made cheese, a little olive oil, rolled up, secured with cooking string, browned and then slow cooked in tomato puree. (When I’ve made made bracciole I’ve used schnitzel steak and added various other ingredients.)

Gnocchi – Growing up this was always my favourite homemade pasta and my mother always made it on my birthday. We had another name for it though. There is quite a skill in making gnocchi properly, It was usually topped with a little home made salsa or sometimes just with a little oil, butter, and garlic and parmesan cheese.

Some dishes that haven’t been mentioned:

Vermicelli and Anchovies: This was our traditional Holy Thursday meal and it is a tradition that I’ve kept going with my family. It’s pretty basic, I’ve modified it a little, and my boys love it – garlic, anchovies, olives, fresh tomato cubed, seasoning, heated together and then mixed into the cooked vermicelli, topped with cheese. A fresh side salad goes well with it.

Eggplant Parmigiana: My mother’s recipe. I make this all the time in the summer and everyone likes it, and visitors are always surprised when they learn it is an eggplant dish. It’s a bit of a process to make it properly, but it’s worth it. The main ingredients eggplant, cheese, homemade salsa.

Antipasto – growing up we traditionally had this at Christmas and Easter, and I’ve kept the tradition going with my family. I don’t limit it to Christmas and Easter these days.

Stuffed Peppers: Breadcrumbs, anchovies, garlic, seasoning, oregano, egg

Pasta e Fagioli: We called it “Pastafasol” I’m surprised this dish has not been mentioned, because I understood it to be a “staple” for Italian immigrants. It was not my favourite dish. (Dean Martin mentions "Pastafasol" in one of his songs.)

Home made Canneloni and Ravoli

Homemade Ricotta and Casa Cavallo (caciocavalo/mozzarella)

These are a few dishes/recipes that I grew up with. There were lots more, and lots of amazing sweet dishes which I haven’t mentioned. Because my mother lived for two years in Napoli, and because our friends were from Napoli, I’m not completely sure which dishes were from Potenza and which may have been from Napoli, as I’m sure they would’ve swapped recipes from time to time. (A cousin told me that when the Italian women in our town swapped recipes, they purposely forgot to mention the most important ingredient!!!)

Angela

[liviomoreno]

Ciao Livio,
"escarole pizza" è il nome inglese che ho dato alla pizza di scarole napoletana, che è una pizza ripiena di scarole lesse e ripassate, olive, capperi, acciughe e, volendo, uvetta e pinoli.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_di_scarola

O ti stai prendendo gioco di me?

Sinceramente non la conoscevo

[MarcuccioV]

A few dishes I did not mention, bracciole (made with the schnitzel beef as you mentioned), "zuppa di pasta fagioli" (I did not like bean soup), baccala at the Holidays, etc. We had a home garden as well (tended by my father, who was not Italian, at least not that I can find). We grew lots of things. My grandmother even raised rabbits & chickens for a while...

[ameb10]

Yum! This is so fascinating! I have family from Bisceglie and Mineo (possibly more places I just haven’t discovered yet), and both love food. Through the years, recipes have been lost, so I am always eager to hear about Italian cooking. Thank you!

[greglam]

Very interesting topic to see everyone's family traditions and recipes!

My grandmother was born in 1910 in Steubenville, Ohio, to parents who were relatively recent immigrants. Her cooking repertoire was not particularly extensive, but what she did make, she made very well. Her wedding soup was excellent, as were her apple pies.

Sunday dinner always consisted of salad, baked chicken, and pasta (either rigatoni, spaghetti, or rotini ("springs"). The sauce was a constant: A huge pot of puree, tomato paste, salt, herbs, and black pepper, and water, into which went meatballs, sausage, and a porkchop (for my dad). We went to Mass at Noon every Sunday and went straight to their house, dinner on the table by 1:15. My sisters and cousins cleared the table, and Grandpap voluntarily washed the dishes. I didn't have to do anything, - much to the girls' consternation - because I was "the grandson".

And that's the way it went, like clockwork, more or less until my cousin and I left for college in 1987.

[darkerhorse]

Did anybody's family make beef braciole with hard boiled egg inside?

[MarcuccioV]

Did anybody's family make beef braciole with hard boiled egg inside?

Ours had sugo inside, but I don't recall hard-boiled egg. Maybe local to Siracusa..?

[darkerhorse]

Did anybody's family make beef braciole with hard boiled egg inside?

Ours had sugo inside, but I don't recall hard-boiled egg. Maybe local to Siracusa..?

Is sugo, red sauce?

[darkerhorse]

Is scacciata regional to Sicily or is it also common on the mainland?

[MarcuccioV]

Did anybody's family make beef braciole with hard boiled egg inside?

Ours had sugo inside, but I don't recall hard-boiled egg. Maybe local to Siracusa..?

Is sugo, red sauce?

Yes, red sauce. We always referred to it as sugo. My mother's pasta sauce was very much in the thick & robust Sicilian style... My grandmother's was not (lighter, like the north). It's an oddity I can't reconcile.

[darkerhorse]

Not "sarsa"?

[darkerhorse]

For a healthy diet, I always eat from the 5 food groups: spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna, ravioli, and manicotti.

[MarcuccioV]

For a healthy diet, I always eat from the 5 food groups: spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna, ravioli, and manicotti.

LOL. My preferred diet, as well...