An Italian Baker’s Seasonal Calendar for Spring – Coming Up Soon!

      Hello beauties in my house!

  Duck Fat Beignets – courtesy Southern Souffle (need I say more?)

There comes a time in a person’s life when they must face up to reality – I wrote the post on Tuesday, “What’s in Your Bathroom Mirror”  from my heart, I did.  And yes, I would like to be tall (haha), thin and toned, yes I would.   And yet, if I am to be completely honest with myself, I’d have to say I just may not be destined to win this battle of the wills.  For, if I scroll through my posts, photos, shares and saved recipes, it would appear that I am, in fact, doomed.  What I am obsessed with doesn’t reconcile with those goals………  Who’s gonna win? I don’t really know.  This time of year is challenging (is there one which is not? maybe Summer when plain fresh fruit including my coveted peaches, is in abundance) but for the time-being I’ll just keep feasting – my eyes, mostly and my palate sometimes……

I’ve had my eye on the calendar for weeks now – and not just for the obvious reasons!  Today is February 27 – one more day of February, 2014 – destined to be the most dastardly month of 2014, I’m willing to wager.  We still have oodles of snow on our patio here, where I live, west of the Summit snow line.  We still have piles of that frozen chemical/snow/ice mixture all around our area –  that stuff which becomes inert and they have to remove it with front loaders into dump trucks and haul it away.  To where, you may ask? Yikes, I don’t think I want to know what aquafers this stuff leaches to……..

Anyway, back to my subject.  Yes, I have been watching the calendar closely as we are very quickly now approaching the time of the year where we celebrate, not just the obvious change of seasons into the “LIVE” parts, but because all of those religious, semi-religious, pagan and made-up days on the calendar which are tied to many wonderful food rituals are just around the corner.

Next week is Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.  There are so many pastries, breads, cakes and treats from the Italian kitchen for this time of year.  All are very nostalgic and many are centered around the Easter and Passover seasons.   Then, we have all the celebrations around St. Patrick’s Day – not Italian but very popular!   The pre-lenten and Lenten features seem to center upon but are not limited to St. Joseph’s Day, March 19 and all those beautiful Zeppoli.  But there are so many more treats to be had and are great reasons to pass the early Spring days in the kitchen.  Who knows, we may even be able to open some windows before Easter!

Little fried pastries seem to be so ubiquitous and perennially popular in so many cultures.  Of course we know of the fame of the Beignets from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.  There are so many decadent filled puffs of dough to indulge in.  Yesterday, I came upon the beignets shown above.  They are made with duck fat.  Now this might just be the ultimate decadence, no?!  I’d love to try them:  http://www.southernsouffle.com/2014/02/duck-fat-beignets.html

Another version of beauties:

  photo courtesy sbs food – Portuguese Doughnuts

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/portuguese-doughnuts-bola-de-berlim?cid=23230

Here is a little list for the upcoming season which focuses on the many wonderful traditions in the Italian kitchen which are driven by the calendar:

February 15 – Tuesday March 4 Mardi Gras, New Orleans

February 22 – March 4 – Carnevale, Venice, Rio

Tuesday, March 4  Fat Tuesday

Wednesday, March 5 Ash Wednesday

Monday, March 17 St. Patrick’s Day – he wasn’t Italian, but I’m including this classic holiday

Wednesday March 19 St. Joseph’s Day

Passover Monday April 14-April 22

Easter Week – Palm Sunday is April 13, Holy Thursday is April 17, Good Friday April 18 and Easter is April 20 this year

Mother’s Day – May 11 this year

Here is a little compendium of the specialties of the Season – Now through May.  I can not post all the recipes here but you can at least find variations online.  If you can invest in one or more of the books, you won’t be disappointed.  I spend a lot of time roaming around used book shops and often pick up choice items at bargain prices, like $1-5.  If you peruse Amazon, you can find them all, in used condition for great bargains as well.  Investing in them won’t just yield results for this time of year – you can use them for reference and recipe selection for any time!

While I have many cookbooks dedicated to Italian holiday baking, I found Carol Field’s  “Celebrating Italy” to be the most informative and complete.  You can read about all of the traditions associated with the seasons of the year, their origins and their corresponding foods.  Here is a list of some of the desserts and breads for the upcoming season.  I am sure to have omitted some along the way.  If you have a favorite or two that you don’t see here, email them to me.   I do strongly urge you to get a copy of Carol Field’s book if you are interested in this subject.  You won’t be sorry.

The most common and popular traditions are:  zeppole, fritters, sfogliatelle, Easter breads of various varieties, Ricotta cakes, Wheat Berry Cake/torte,  and the Lamb cake.   There are tons of recipes to enjoy for these – and each family has their own favorite way of making and serving them.  Many of these  are or are derived from very old recipes and the history of these rituals and their recipes are what I enjoy studying all of the time.  The early arrival of various foodstuffs from other parts of the world and cultures into Italy and there evolution is fascinating to learn about.

My Grandmother, her sisters and my Aunts all made the most amazing Ribbons.  Along with Taralli and Struffoli, Ribbons were a top-tier favorite!

Here is the list from Carol Field’s book –

• Bugie (Ribbons) for Carnevale – Celebrating Italy by Carol Field  pg362
• Berlingaccio Tuscan Sweet Bread for Carnevale – p 364
• Cannoli p366
• Quaresimali Toscani – Orange-flavored Chocolate Cookies for Lent p 387
• Croccante Quaresimale – Crunchy Hazelnut Cookies for Lent p 388
• Corolli – Anise-Scented Sweet Bread for Lent p 389
• Quaresimali Romani – Orange and Almond Biscotti for Lent – p 390
• Cassateddi – Sweet Ricotta-Filled Turnovers p 403
• Sfinci San Giuseppe – Fried Puffs for St. Joseph’s Day p 404
• Zeppole di San Giuseppe – Italian Donuts p 406
• Frittelle di San Giuseppe – Rice Fritters for Saint Joseph p 407

My other go-to books for Italian seasonal specialities include:

Michele Scicolone’s Italian Holiday Cooking where I find:

• Cassata Cake – Ricotta Layer Cake – page 218
• Easter Wheatberry Cheesecake – page 228
• Orange Semolina Cake for Carnevale – page 23
• for Passover – Zuccherini or Little Sweets – page 268
• Ricotta Tart or Cassata al Forno – page 226
• Chocolate Cake for Passover or Torta Di Cioccolato de Pesah – page 222

Three other great books are Rosetta Costantino’s Southern Italian Desserts,  Nick Malgieri’s Great Italian Desserts and Mary Ann Esposito’s Celebrations Italian Style.  All of these books are great.  My copies are dog-eared and spilled upon.

Mario Batali’s Torta della Nonna: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/torta-della-nonna-grandmas-cake-recipe.html

Here is one of a million renditions of the Sicilian Cassata  – this one from Hélene Dujardin of Tartelette fame: http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2008/07/cassata-alian-sicilian-baking-with.html

  photo courtesy Le Tartelette and Hélene Dujardin

And finally, last year I came upon this celebratory cake, The Rose Cake, for Mother’s Day:

   http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/rose-cake-italian-recipe

For anyone of Italian-American heritage and grew up in a home where your Mom or Grandmothers made any or all of these treats, any one of these books would be a treat to have.  On a snowy afternoon (like perhaps on this coming Sunday), while you are waiting patiently for Spring to arrive, you can sit and peruse with a nice cup of tea.  You’ll learn a lot about the seasons and you will be able to compare recipes.  I always enjoy reading about the traditional Saints’ Days where life in the villages was centered upon observing the rituals and making all the great food.

and, for the resident Irishmen:

Here is my recipe for St. Patrick’s Day – My Irish Soda Buns – http://www.kitchen-inspirational.com/2013/03/17/my-irish-soda-buns-the-dichotomy-that-is-the-irish-soul-haunting-and-happy/

I wish I could share all the recipes here.  If anyone would like a special one, please don’t hesitate to write.

 

  Kit is waiting till she can go outside and sun herself on the patio!