First pasta sauce for the year (now the freezer shelf is bare of the last container from the previous batch – so many dinners from one pot!)
Each time the recipe ends up a little different, but for this one there is…
- Passata for past ‘tomato days’ when three generations made the sauce together.
- Olive oil – a symbol of peace and the heart of Italian food.
- Onion for the layers of life (and tears shed).
- Garlic for health and protection from the Malocchio (evil eye).
- Bietola, silverbeet for nourishment and connection to the land.
- Chuck steak for strength (and a link to as a kid I had to carry home that paper-wrapped parcel from the butcher shop up the road back to Nanna Francesca’s kitchen).
- Diced and crushed tomatoes for passion and the blood of independence.
- A dash of balsamic vinegar for patience (and quality, slow craftsmanship over fast mass production).
- A teaspoon of sugar for love, generosity and the sweetness of life.
- Salt for the sea of southern Italy (and the tide to go out in the pot).
- A handful of lentils for good fortune and a prosperous year ahead.
Hopefully, I haven’t forgotten anything but the next one will have its own story anyway. Buon appetito. 🍝 ✨
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❤️ Anche… my heart goes out to all those in southern Italy and its surrounding areas recovering from the devastation of the cyclone at present. Including the seaside town of Palmi where Nanna Francesca’s side of our family is from (and where I wrote about in, The Proxy Bride). Auguro a tutti voi forza, cuore e coraggio. Zoë xx
Years ago, when it wasn’t common to have running water at home in Abruzzo, on the first day of a new year, women would go to the village fountain to collect clean water in their copper conca or basin and take it to friends and neighbours as a gift.
Mending… so out comes the sewing box Nanna Francesca gave me for my 8th birthday. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to receive this as a present at that age, though I put on a happy face so not to hurt her feelings. Afterwards, I told Mum she could have it and the sewing box sat in her linen press for years. Yet, once I moved into my own house, I went and retrieved it and it has stayed with me.
Spring circles in the kitchen and garden – eggs in purgatory, ‘lucky’ lentils, broad bean risotto fritters, a dandelion flower, melanzane fritte, orange patty cakes, fava spaghetti with spring greens…
On the kitchen table… fennel flowers, their little blossoms like star bursts with a slight scent of liquorice, honey and lemon. I came across some fresh fennel bulbs at the market about a month ago but life has taken over for a bit since then! These fennel were irresistible in their curviness. (Male fennel are slimmer, the female fennel more rounded and sweeter – said to be ‘like the many beautiful, curvy women of the Mediterranean shores these plants are indigenous to’!) 😘
Thank you for joining me here throughout the year – for your wonderful interest in and support of my books and for sharing your own experiences and memories with me.
‘Raccavallala!’ Granny Maddalena cried out if someone stepped over a child lying on the floor – step back over it! – or you’d stunt the child’s growth. I’m currently researching Italian folklore and came across this very superstition and many others like… never put your wallet on the floor or you’ll have no money. If you accidentally put your clothes on inside out in the morning it’s good luck and you’ll receive good news. Wasting food or throwing it out brings misfortune. Remove cobwebs with your left hand for good luck.
Beside Maddalena’s amulet are her gold earrings – given to young girls as gold was believed to protect against blindness and misfortune and interestingly because it symbolises the sun’s power and masculine energy. I have no idea how old these earrings are but Estella Canziani did paintings of similar earrings worn by peasants in Italy and France that she saw during her travels in the 1900s, including in the area of Abruzzo where Granny lived.
Zoë Boccabella 