Friday,
March 16, 2007
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
St Joseph Table celebration at the Local St Peter's
By Andrea Clurfield
March 14, 2007
As long as
there's a lot, you'll be fine.
San Giuseppe,
But it's not all prosciutto and pork-rich salumi
products, mind you. In this area, folks toasting
Brooklyn-born
baker John Buscema makes both sfinci
and zeppole for La Dolce Bakery,...He learned his
craft as a youth working in Italian bakeries in Brooklyn and has been baking
ever since.
In the weeks
leading up to March 19, Buscema makes "sfinci, which has a ricotta cream filling, like you'd make
for a cannoli, and zeppole,
too, which has a custard filling, something like a cream puff. The pastry is
simple, just eggs, flour, oil and water."
What? No sugar?
"No, no
sugar 'cause the fillings are sweet enough," Buscema
says. "You get your sugar from the cannoli cream
and the custard. There's powdered sugar (sprinkled) over the top. The important
thing is, it has to be fried dough."
Buscema's classic
Carmen Carracciolo of Marlboro, shopping at Tuscany Italian Market,..., says she doesn't make her own
She also plans to
purchase at Tuscany the makings of a grand antipasto platter that will be her
contribution to her extended family's St. Joseph's Day fete: "Prosciutto, of course, roasted peppers, the artichokes that
come marinated in jars, provolone, soppressata,
olives I'll buy all of that. We'll
make pasta, sauce and meatballs and that'll be it. It's a good dinner."Her plan is typical of how some
Italian-Americans commemorate the day.
In southern
Back here,
Michael Messina of
Indeed,
traditional recipes for sweet-and-sour Sicilian meatballs call for a mix of
meats, maybe pieces of salumi, ground chicken and
ground pork, that are seasoned with cinnamon, minced candied citrus peel and
chopped almonds then further invigorated with red-wine vinegar sauce.
But even those
who only plan to cook a simple bowl of pasta dressed with good extra-virgin
olive oil, a little garlic and a sprinkling of Parmigano-Reggiano
cheese still make the day festive.
"That's what
we like, plain pasta," says
Don't you bet San
Giuseppe, patron saint of pastry cooks and children, is smiling?
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived
at:
Italia
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at
Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Blogspot: http://annoticoreport.blogspot.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net