Italians are big on superstitions…. it’s true.  Especially us southern Italians.  Here are a few of the ones that stand out from growing up.  Some are serious and others are just for fun.  I hope you can add some of your own as well.

• Never lay a loaf of bread upside down…. since bread is the body of Crist, it’s disrespectful (to leave Jesus on his head that is)
• Follow that up with never stick a knife into a loaf of bread… which obviously doesn’t include cutting it.
• Never cross arms when shaking hands in a group or toasting in a group… bad luck.
• Never toast with a glass of water.
• Always look into the other person’s eyes when toasting…. 7 years bad sex.
• The dreaded owl!  Owls are bad luck.
• The number 17…. not good.  My brother was going to get married on the 17th… my mother put a stop to that.
• I also remember that I’m not supposed to trim my nails on Thursday for some reason but I can’t remember why.
• Spilling wine at the dinner table can be easily remedied by dabbing a little of the spilled wine behind each ear.

So what are some of your Italian superstitions?

There’s nothing like roasted red peppers to add that extra flavor to a sandwich, as a side-dish, appetizer or in your favorite recipe. We usually roast red bell peppers but you can certainly roast green, yellow, orange… or any other color you like. Roasting red peppers has been an annual tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. (We also make several jars or red pepper sauce to use in another Italian specialty coming up in a few months, so stay tuned… right Maria from Philly?;)

As usual, the process varies but here’s how we roast our red peppers… and remember, as my dad likes to say, “No work?, no eat!”

1- We buy red bell peppers by the case or pick them at a local farm. The price seems to vary from year to year. Late September or early October is usually the best time to find red bell peppers at a great price in our area as they are in season. We picked them for $10 per bushel this year.

2- Wash the peppers and remove any blemishes but do not remove the stems or cores. Leave the peppers whole.

3- Place them on a fire grill. We use a wood burning grill that dad made by cutting a barrel in half. Any flame grill can be used but make sure the flames are large enough to char the skin of the peppers. If you slow cook the peppers, they will be too mushy (mushy is a very technical term!) I’ve heard of people brushing oil on their peppers but I don’t see a need to do it.

The pepper cooker

4- We designate a “pepper cooker” (Dad) that is in charge of cooking the peppers on the grill. (what else would a “pepper cooker” be in charge of??) It’s important to cook the peppers enough to char the skin so that it peels off easily and that’s it. Don’t cook the entire pepper. This is done by turning the peppers often. It takes some practice but isn’t that difficult.

5- Once the peppers are ready, take them off the grill and let them cool a little. When they’ve cooled for a few minutes, you can hold them by the stem and peel the charred skin off with your fingers. Be careful, they should still be very hot. If you let them cool too much, they will be more difficult to peel. We usually have a bucket of water nearby to clean and cool our hands. Peel off as much of the skin as you can but don’t worry, there is always some black specks of charred skin or uncooked skin that remains (you’ll be able to tell how good your “pepper cooker” is by the amount of un-charred skin remains (the less un-charred skin the better) We usually remove the skin first and then go back and remove the stems and core. We do this because it’s easier to remove the skin when the peppers are still pretty hot, which means the insides are even hotter, so we wait until they cool down. It’s also easier to hold the peppers by the stems when removing the skin.

Important: do not dunk the peppers in water as they will lose flavor.

6 – Once you have removed the skin from the peppers and they have cooled down completely, go back and remove the stems and core of the peppers. You can also tear the peppers into pieces at this point. The size of the pieces is up to you and your preference. If there is still charred skin remaining, this is a good time to remove as much as you can.

7- Now that you have removed the skin, stems and core of the peppers and torn them into the size pieces that you want, you can start jarring them. We use small jars for the most part so that we have smaller portions when we decide to open a jar. We’ll make a few large quart size jars as well for holidays or special occasions. Make sure to pack the peppers down well as you jar them. Again, do not wash the peppers as they will lose flavor.

8 – Once you have jarred and topped your peppers, you will need to boil the jars to seal the tops. Put your jars in a large pot and fill the pot with water. Bring the water to a boil and let the jars boil for 20-30 minutes. Once they are done boiling, take them out, place them on a blanket and cover them. This will keep the jars from cooling too quickly and cracking.

Simple roasted red peppers: Open a jar of roasted red peppers, add a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic, cut a loaf of fresh bread and you have a great side dish or snack. Enjoy and buon appetito!

Well my last post certainly triggered some rants and stirred the pot a little…. I like that. It also got me thinking about a topic that I have always wanted to post about but it’s a monster of a debate, so I have stayed away …. until now. Maria from Philly mentioned it in her comment. The topic is “Gravy.” che cosa? exactly….. GRAVY.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, “Gravy” is a term that some Italian-Americans use to refer to their pasta sauce.

I’ll start with a sprinkle of what I think and add in a pinch of what I know.

What I think: The short answer is I think gravy is for turkeys… I’m not making fun, I just think it’s what you should have with turkey.. not pasta.

What I know: “Gravy” is not an Italian term (then again, neither is “sauce”.) It is however a legitimate Italian-American term in certain regions, so it has its place in Italian-American culture. If you are an Italian-American from New York or New Jersey… maybe even outside of that area you may refer to your pasta sauce as “Gravy”. I grew up in New England and as far as I know, Italian American’s in this area do not use the term.

I think the word “Gravy” may originate from a sauce that is made with meat. It’s common practice to make a tomato sauce starting with meat and then pull the meat out as a separate dish. The juice from the meat remains though…. so like making gravy, you’re using the juices from meat.

So the closest definition of “Gravy” in Italian would be Ragu, which is a meat based sauce.(not the porcheria you see in a jar at the supermarket)

What is Italian? Sugo, ragu, salsa di pomodoro
Look up sugo in an Italian/English dictionary and you’ll find both sauce and gravy (sugo di carne.) It is a lively debate. If you grew up using the term, you swear by it and if you didn’t it’s a crazy concept. Either way… buon appetito!

I’ll leave you with this little clip from the Sopranos… I just wanted to use the first part of it but couldn’t find a shorter version, so sorry for the profanity…. and play nice!

PS – Notice how the Italians think Paulie is cRaZy!

Thanks to rickyracoon2007 for the clip

My Zio e Zia arrived from Calabria yesterday and we had a big family dinner at my parents’ house. The food was delicious and it was great to catch up and see how everyone is doing. It’s also fun to speak in our Calabrese dialect. I’ve lived in several parts of Italy and have come across many dialects. The famous Tuscan dialect that eliminates the letter “c” and replaces it with an “h”…. hasa = casa and you may have heard the famous drinking of a Coca-Cola with a cannuccia? the Sardinians, who like to jumble their words, “scherzando stai?” my aunt from Puglia says, Shamu = Andiamo and among the ones you know of, there are so many other dialects that you never knew existed. I can remember my barber in Bologna would speak to his friends while cutting my hair….. I didn’t understand a word, not even one. We have our dialect as I’m sure many of you do as well. The thing that amazes me about dialects is that they can be languages in themselves and they can vary from town to town. I’m sure our dialect from Calabria is different from dialects in other parts of Calabria. In our dialect we replace a lot of “Fs” with “Hs” for instance Cahe = Caffe’ or cutting words short, which is a big part of many dialects: iamu = andiamo. In addition, there are words in every dialect that are unique and completely different from the correct corresponding word in the Italian language.

I’ve noticed that dialects are slowly fading and many of my younger cousins in Calabria speak proper Italian. They are more prevalent with the older generations but I imagine that they will continue to fade. Growing up, I always assumed that we spoke Italian in our house but in fact, we spoke our dialect. I’m sure many Italian American families do the same. In addition, Italian American families who do speak dialect, usual speak the dialect that was used when their families left Italy, so many are older dialects…… not to mention that over time, they are infused with English influence. You know what I’m talking about!…… those words that are not Italian and not quite English. It’s a made up word, Italenglish or Engtalian. My father has been here for over 30 years and he likes to use certain words that no matter how many times you correct him, he will continue to use them. One of my favorite “dad words” is Yesternight = last night. Ieri sera would be yesternight…. right? makes sense to dad.

To me there is a beauty in dialects, an individuality but there are people who think dialects divide Italy…. to those people, I say “blah, blah, blah” which in our dialect means….. blah, blah, blah.