Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #13 -- Ethnic Foodways: my great-grandmother's biscotti.

Soft Biscotti.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

The Challenge: #13 – Ethnic Foodways. Foodways and cuisine are at the heart of every ethnic group around the world and throughout time. Choose one ethnic group, research their traditional dishes or food, and prepare one as it is traditionally made.

My family is half Sicilian and a quarter Calabrese (from Calabria in southern Italy), and traditional (for us) Italian holiday food includes a few types of cookies.  When my grandmothers were alive, we usually bought our cookies at the Italian bakery, or from the supermarket (Stella D'oro brand used to carry some of our favorites), but now, purchased cookies are less available to us, so in the last several years I've started researching and making some.  This has also helped me enjoy all our Italian cookie favorites, since my nut allergies have made most traditional Italian cookies not an option for me (lots of almonds and hazelnuts). 

The issue with re-creating historic Italian cookies is the fact that literacy has not been a common skill in Italy and Sicily for many years – really only since World War 2.  My own grandparents were the first literate generation in their families; their parents were illiterate, and so was the rest of that generation, so their recipes have been passed down by mouth and by example, rather than being written down.  With that oral tradition comes the tradition of each person making the recipe slightly differently, according to their own tastes, which makes it hard to trace it back to the "original" version! 

Busy days.

Christina and I making the tea. 

Oh my gosh, it's been something like a month since I last posted!  A lot has been going on.

First, we had our 6th annual Cat Rescue Tea in San Jose, and it was another success!  We served about 120 people over 2 days, and raised close to $5,000 for 13th Street Cats!

I made 8 batches of Meyer lemon curd, and coordinated a bunch of other things, including jam donations, tea donations (from Satori Tea Bar and Thompson Tea Company), and put together 2 afternoon tea baskets for the silent auction, as well as collected a bunch of other tea things for the raffle for both days.  I also helped make tea sandwiches, served the lemon curd, jam, and butter, and with my friend Christina, made all the tea that was served at the event.

Christmas preparations.

Italian cuccidate.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

I'm gearing up for my annual holiday baking marathon.  I usually make one or two types of traditional Italian cookies, fruit cakes, and gingerbread to both serve and give away as gifts to family and friends, along with homemade jam.  I also like to make at least one historic recipe as well.  I've tried Mrs. Beeton's Seed Cake and Currant Cake with good results, but this year I think I'll try her Christmas Cake.  Here is the recipe:

Mrs. Beeton's Christmas Cake

Displaying my grandma's wedding dress.

The dress on display at History Park. 
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

I was allowed to put my grandma's wedding dress on display this weekend for a special event at the museum where I work.  In preparation for the event, I had to design the exhibit, arrange for items like a dress form and other display props,  and do my own set up and take down.  I also discovered that the gown and veil needed some TLC. before it would survive the display!  Even though they were only made in 1945 (and there are many things from the '40s that are in such good condition they can still be used), the gown and veil were literally falling apart in places.  I researched what it would take to restore them and found that I had neither the tools nor the money to do so properly ($80 per yard museum-quality silk crepeline for a support lining, anyone?).  The rayon satin of the gown, and the nylon (or rayon?) net of the veil were badly ripped in places, and the gown fabric was literally breaking off into bits at the edges of the torn areas.  The best I could do was to baste strips of well-washed cotton muslin from seam to seam across the torn areas, to take pressure off of the fabric, and then baste the edges of the tears to the muslin.

Ca. 1945 wedding cake topper made of icing sugar.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

Cuccidati for Christmas!

Homemade cuccidati!

I remember having a huge pink bakery box of Italian Christmas cookies at my grandma's house every year.  Being allergic to nuts, I couldn't eat many of those cookies, but I remember how good they looked and how everyone enjoyed them.  I've been making more of an effort to research Italian and Sicilian traditions, especially holiday and food traditions, and re-create them.  This year, it was Sicilian Spiced Fig Cookies, or Cuccidati.  Instead of the traditional filling of spices, dried fruit and nuts, I left out the nuts and made a cookie that I could eat!  Here is the recipe that I used:

Holiday baking.

Cuccidati (but they're missing their sprinkles) from Wikipedia. 

I'll be working on some holiday baking this afternoon before I sing my last two gigs with the Lyric Theatre Victorian Carolers later today, so we'll see how much I can get done.  On the schedule: Sicilian cuccidate, more gingerbread (cake) and gingerbread cookies, and possibly some Italian anginetti and/or anise toast. 

The gingerbread cake will be for gifts, along with jars of homemade jam.  The gingerbread cookies will be made in two shapes: houses and donkeys.  The gingerbread houses will be decorated as Victorian houses, and the donkeys will be decorated like Italian donkeys (with red saddle and blue bow around neck).  The other cookies will be for the family.  There is a lot of advance preparation, and chilling of the dough, so I'd better get started!

Baking for my mommy!

It's my mom's birthday today, but she's stuck in First Aid and CPR training classes all day. I usually make breakfast for her on her birthday, but since she didn't have time to eat breakfast today, I'll be doing the birthday breakfast tomorrow, and probably also cooking dinner for the family when they come over. I'm also making the cake today. My mom requested a chocolate cherry cake, and a raisin and cream cheese bread pudding -- both of which recipes are at her house -- but for dinner, I'm using a recipe from her mother's 1943 cookbook.

My mom's family is Sicilian, but she grew up in the Central Valley around tons of other Mediterranean people, and one of the dishes that became a tradition in our family is actually Armenian. There used to be an Armenian deli in a nearby town, and they made the most delicious, tender lamb shish-kabob, which we always had -- alongside the pasta and garlic bread -- with the turkey, ham or whatever holiday food we were eating for as long as I can remember. When the owner decided to retire and close the deli, we asked to buy the recipe from them but they wouldn't sell it, and we've been trying to re-create the flavor and tenderness of this lamb dish ever since! We've got the flavor pretty close, but the tenderness is still elusive.

Well, in my grandma's cookbook is a recipe for Skewered Lamb with a marinade that sounds similar to the one we've been trying to re-create. If I tweak the marinade recipe a bit and marinate the meat overnight, hopefully it will work. It would be better if I could marinate the meat for a few days, but I hope that the trick will be cooking the meat at a low enough temperature, for 30 minutes. Here's the recipe:

Skewered Lamb
Shish kabobs (skewered lamb) are made by putting 4 to 5 cubes of marinated lean lamb on long metal skewers and grilling 30 minutes or longer. The night before the barbecue, the meat from a leg of lamb (about a 5-pound leg) should be trimmed of fat and gristle and cut into 2-inch cubes. Put in a large bowl and mix with a sauce made by blending 1/2 pound onions, peeled and sliced, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 cup sherry wine, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon regoni.

I don't have any regoni, which I've never heard of but I assume is a cooking herb or spice. I notice that there's no rosemary, garlic, or mint in this recipe, and I know that it was part of the marinade for the shish-kebab that I ate as a child, so I'll be adding it -- plus more black pepper -- to this recipe. I don't know if my mom has sherry, so I'll be adding some other red wine, but I have high hopes for this vintage recipe!

Vintage Sicilian family recipe: Fried squash blossoms.

Zucchini flower image from Wikipedia.
My family is largely of Sicilian heritage, and some of our most treasured heirlooms are family recipes. This afternoon, I was able, finally, to taste one of the dishes that my great-grandmother used to make: fried squash blossoms! My mom and aunt have told me that they used to eat them for breakfast or lunch, either alone, or in sandwiches when they were at their grandmothers' house.

I never see squash blossoms in the supermarkets, and until last Friday, had never seen them at a farmers' market, either. The only way I knew to get squash blossoms is to plant pumpkins or zucchini in your garden, because you have to thin out the blossoms anyway or you'll stress the plant out. Imagine my excitement when I saw squash blossoms for sale at the San Pedro Square farmer's market last week! I bought a bag of them and brought them home to try and re-create my great-grandmother's recipe:

"pick and wash fresh squash blossoms of any kind. Dip in egg batter and pan fry in olive oil."

Of course, I didn't know exactly what she meant by "egg batter" -- was it egg with milk and flour, or some other mixture? I ended up bringing them to my mom's house and it turns out that she had seen her mother make them; the "egg batter" is only beaten egg. My mom showed me how to fry the blossoms and we cooked and ate my bag of squash blossoms for an early lunch. Easy! Here's what you do:

Try to use squash blossoms the same day that you pick them (mine were 3 days old and I think that's about the limit). Gently tear off the stem and cap of the squash blossom, along with the stamen and pistil, leaving only the petals, which will be attached to each other in a "cone" shape. If you do it right, you can keep the stem and cap in one piece with the stamen and pistil. Discard everything but the petals (the stamen and pistil are full of pollen which stains everything!), rinse the petals thoroughly and pat them dry on paper towels.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan, on medium to medium-high heat, and get out some eggs, flour, and salt. I think some dried or minced fresh herbs would be a good addition, too, but we didn't use them today. Break some eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork. Put some flour on a plate and mix in a pinch of salt; if you're adding herbs, add them to the plate of flour. When your oil is hot, make sure each blossom is dry, then dip each blossom in the beaten egg, and dredge in the flour until lightly coated. Put the blossom directly into the hot oil in the pan, and do the same with a couple more blossoms (they shouldn't touch while cooking or they'll stick together). Turn the blossoms after 1 or 2 minutes, or when golden on the underside, and let them cook and brown on the other side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels (to catch the extra oil) and egg, flour, and fry a few more blossoms. Continue until all the blossoms have been cooked.

The amounts of egg and flour depend on the number of blossoms you have to fry. I had about 12, and we used 4 to 5 eggs and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of flour. My mom ate hers with some tomato and garlic hummus and I ate mine with some whole-milk ricotta cheese. The flavor of the blossoms is very mild, but reminiscent of zucchini and slightly bitter, which was delicious with the fried egg and flour coating. I could see how this would be good in a sandwich with a slice of ripe heirloom tomato! I'll have to make this again when my tomato plants start producing ...