Published: August 28, 2007 11:48 pm            

Preserving memories in the kitchen

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Growing up on Oak Street in Lawrence, Mass., Ann Arcidiacono learned all the Italian classics from her grandmother, Anna DiResta, and mother, Amelia DiGregorio.

“I was always around my mother, trying to watch what she was doing,” said Arcidiacono, who now lives in Salem, N.H. “We didn’t have a lot of money, and to my mother, just having the happiness of her family was like having a million dollars. I just wanted to do what she was doing.”

As she got older, Arcidiacono picked up a few recipes of her own — from friends, cookbooks and other sources.

She collected her mom’s recipes and created a scrapbook for her family so they could preserve these dishes. Today, they’re the treasured classics in her cooking repertoire, alongside some new favorites she developed along the way.

“It is so important to carry on the traditions from generation to generation,” said Arcidiacono. “I felt like I had to do it.”

Several of these Italian classics — plus some new favorites like Greek cookies and French pork pies — make up Arcidiacono’s contribution to the new St. Rita Sodality Cookbook, called “A Taste of Heaven,” which will debut during the Feast of the Three Saints this weekend in Lawrence. Organized by the St. Alfio Society of Lawrence, the three-day celebration that opens Friday is in remembrance of the suffering of brothers Alfio, Cirino and Filadelfo, who were martyred for their faith in Sicily during the early years of Christianity.

“Even Italians don’t make Italian food 100 percent of the time,” Arcidiacono said, explaining the Greek and French dishes in her repertoire.

The St. Rita Sodality Cookbook features 941 recipes from 300 contributors, with about 75 of the recipes coming from the group’s first cookbook, which it released in the early 1990s.

While the first cookbook concentrated on Italian favorites, like rice balls (or arancine), guandi (a type of fried egg dough pastry), and pasta dishes, the new book includes recipes from other cultures — Hispanic, Polish, Portuguese and Lithuanian among them. The diversity of dishes is intended to reflect the ethnic changes at Holy Rosary Church in Lawrence, the home of St. Rita’s Sodality.

“It’s going to give you a real flavor of the melting pot we’ve become,” said Patricia Mariano of Lawrence, chairwoman of the St. Rita’s cookbook committee.

Arcidiacono joined the sodality about five years ago, partly because her mother and grandmother were members and partly because of her devotion to the saint.

“Everyone needs a good saint by their side at some point in their life,” she said. “I chose St. Rita.”

When she cooks — especially the dishes that have been in her family for generations — Arcidiacono revisits memories of loved ones.

“Once you met my mother, you would fall in love with her,” Arcidiacono reminisced. “She would always make people smile. She just loved life. Hopefully, I have gotten some of that from her.”

She believes passing on those family recipes allows her to share a part of her mother. She also hopes the recipes inspire others to forge the kind of family bond she has enjoyed with relatives, which she knows would make her mother proud.

“It’s just something I know my mother would be happy about, taking an interest in what she loves so much,” Arcidiacono said.

And if she could give anyone an important piece of advice, it would be this: “Learn your mother’s recipes.”



Rosemary Ford writes for The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass.





X X X





Her favorite tools

r Wooden chopstick

r A handmade cookie cutter

r Marble rolling pin



Where to get

the cookbook

The St. Rita Sodality Cookbook will be sold by calling the rectory at Holy Rosary Church in Lawrence, Mass., at 978-685-1711.



Ann Arcidiacono’s heirloom recipes

Rice Balls (Arancine)

For rice:

4 14-ounce cans of chicken broth

4 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup Romano or Asiago cheese

1/3 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook rice according to package directions, using broth, butter and salt and pepper. Add cheese into cooked rice and chill.



For filling:

4 pieces of crushed cooked sausage, mixed with 4 meatballs in amount equal to sausage

1 small package frozen peas

1 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks



For assembly:

1 egg, beaten and added to rice mixture

1 egg, beaten in a separate dish

12 ounces bread crumbs



Directions:

Stir one beaten egg into cooked rice. Take a handful of rice, and make a well in the center. Fill the well with about a teaspoon of meat, a few peas and two chunks of cheese. Add more rice and squeeze to form a ball, making sure the filling is completely covered and in the center.

Dip the ball into the beaten egg. Roll the ball in bread crumbs. Fry in a small sauce pan, with enough oil to roll the rice ball around. Cook until golden brown.

Serve with tomato sauce and grated cheese.

Makes between 12 and 15 rice balls.



Pasta E Fagioli

1 medium onion

3 cloves minced garlic

3/4 slice of bacon, cut finely

4 celery stalks

32 ounces of homemade sauce

2 14-ounce cans of chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans,

broken down in a blender to a soft paste

2 15-ounce cans of cannellini beans, whole

1 16-ounce box Ditalini pasta, cooked

Pecorino Romano cheese to

garnish



Directions:

Saute onion, garlic, bacon and

celery in olive oil. When the

bacon is crisp and onion opaque, add chicken broth and homemade sauce. Simmer at least

30 minutes on low heat and add salt and pepper.

Add bean paste and beans. Simmer 15 minutes on low heat and stir in pasta. Add grated Pecorino Romano cheese to garnish.

Makes 10 servings.

French Pork Pies

Crust:

13/4 cups flour

Pinch of salt

4 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup Crisco

Water, about 10 teaspoons

Combine all ingredients, mix and set aside in a refrigerator for one hour



Filling:

1-11/2 pounds ground pork

1 large onion

Salt and pepper to taste

Allspice to taste

1 cup mashed potatoes

Also:

Crisco

Half stick melted butter

1 egg white



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Saute onions, ground pork and salt and pepper. When cooked, add in allspice to taste for seasoning.

Mix in prepared mashed potatoes until meat holds together.

Cut circles in dough, half measuring 4 inches in diameter and half 3 inches in diameter.

In a cupcake pan greased with Crisco, place larger circle of dough in bottom pan, put in a heaping amount of meat filling, then top with a smaller circle of dough. Brush with a little butter. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Midway through baking, when they start to get golden brown, brush with egg white.

Remove from tin. Pork pies can be served with extra mashed potatoes and gravy.

Makes 8 pies.

        

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