Pasta with Peppers and Goat Cheese - a new tradition

"We don't worry so much about saving traditions. Traditions change all the time. We want to save the culture of food here." Giovanni Rebora in Laura Schenone's The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken.

That quote returns to me again and again during holiday cooking.

Am I keeping the "home fires burning" with traditions? Or saving the culture of memory for my family? Pizza du Grane or Neopolitan Wheat Pie or Easter Grain Pie - it's been made in most Italian families for generations. The wheat symbolizes spring - new birth and new life. Around the country, my cousins are making these. We stir the pastiera together.

Pastiera: soaked and cooked wheat berries later cooked in cream, milk and sugar. There is no shortcut - no microwave recipe. I stir the pastiera as my mother does and as my grandmother did.

I am told my great-grandmother was working in a field when my great-grandfather came by on horseback. Stunned by her beauty, he spoke with her, courted her and married her. She was a coarse peasant (my grandmother's assertion) and his family was not pleased. For great-grandfather was a landowner. It was the 1800's and a caste system was still firmly in place. And that is all I know of her.

As a young child I saw fields from Italy - re-imagined in my own mind as the fields on outer Long Island and New Jersey that I visited. I see her hunched over and then suddenly looking up - the sun momentarily blinding her and finally seeing my great-grandfather. Hard-work and innocence in her eyes. Did she see "love at first sight?" Or escape? And I continue to picture her beauty. It's part fairy tale with a "happily ever after" that would take generations to be true. In the meantime, much bread was broken and years of meals were shared.

With so little knowledge of her, the pastiera binds us. Surely Philomena stirred the pastiera as I did tonight. For Tess - Mary Theresa - my grandmother must have learned the recipe from her. Which was passed down to my mother and aunts without ever writing a word. The baking of the Pizza du Grane has become more than tradition - it's been the cornerstone of my Easters and one of the things that gave my Midwestern children a slice and a surety of their Italian heritage. I think "Pizza du Grane" might have been their first Italian words (spoken in dialect of course). If you want to explore spring, find the recipe here. It's sweet, creamy, a bit chewy and filled with promise.

Good Friday always meant shellfish pasta. Part culture of course - fasting and no meat on Good Friday. Part tradition.

My mother bought no less than 8 pounds of shellfish for dinner for six. And one of those six does not touch fish! Culture or tradition? She feeds a village when she cooks. This is hardly fasting.

Under the shellfish you will find 3 pounds of pasta. For 6 people! There are no protestations when you see the table groaning from excess - for it is not the amount of food that my mother was thinking of - it was the amount of nurturing she wanted to give.

With the shellfish pasta dinner held earlier this month, Good Friday's tradition changed. The busyness of our lives begged for simplicity.

Penne with Peppers and Goat Cheese (adapted from Tastes of Italia) - serves 6

1 pound penne pasta (I used whole wheat)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 red pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 green pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
(I used a medley of peppers and more than the 3)

2 garlic cloves, sliced thin

4 ounces goat cheese - crumbled

salt and pepper to taste

fresh Italian Parsley - for scattering

Cook penne pasta according to package directions. In a medium-large skillet, heat the oil. When hot but not sizzling add the sliced peppers and garlic. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add drained pasta and stir well - coating all well with peppers and the oil. Add the goat cheese and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving bowl. Scatter parsley and serve.

I will do this again and again. Until it jumps from tradition into the land of "culture." In the heat of the summer when the peppers beg for a new use, I will greedily pick them and steam them in oil. I will endeavor to mix them with pasta and share my bounty. Or maybe I will just slather them on crusty bread and keep them as a guilty secret with just a few scattered crumbs telling of my crime. Maybe they'll be mixed with Fontina or fresh mozzarella or - oh dear my cheese obsession is showing. I'll stop.

A tradition that my daughter keeps alive is the dyeing of the Easter eggs. The egg decorations reveal what has been important to her during the past year. (e.g. we had years of lots and lots of cat-decorated eggs. The Easter cat trumped the Easter bunny every year.)

As you can see, she's moved on from cats. Really. That's a tiger.

And her sweetie is as enamored with decorating eggs as she is. (Although I will say his Humpty Dumpty egg resembled a zombie.)

Tomorrow the colored eggs get baked into Easter breads. And the Biscotti Regina will be baked. (Recipe is here for these sesame delectables: easy recipe, you do not have to stir with my ancestors to get it right.)

Buona Pasqua, Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring. I wish you new traditions and old. May spring whisper new promises that bring joy.

Italian Easter Wheat Pie

I'm eating this now. Before Easter. Because I can. I don't mind that I got mad at the dough (oh yes, we had words) and the lattice work is sad. It tastes good. This "Pizza du grane" or Italian Easter Wheat Pie has been made every Easter in my memory. The fact that the original recipe feeds Naples works for me. I freeze the pies, give them away. And savor. We all have our fill because my mother and I only make this once a year.

This Easter is divided into the traditional foods my family has always loved and the non-traditional. This is not a traditional Easter with my family - we are too too raw. So we are making some new foods. We don't want to recreate all. We do need to forge ahead. Tomorrow's herbed-goat cheese ravioli will be new. But nobody could give up this pie.

Once upon a time, we could find pastiera in cans. We would lug them home from New York City. In recent years, the cans have dwindled and we have made our own pastiera. This year I made it from wheat berries. Next year, I will make it from farro (a wee bit softer and no need to soak the wheat over night). The wheat is the essence of the pie - it's spring, it's nourishment, new life, new promise.

`

When you are done cooking the wheat, it will be your pastiera and look like this.

Pastiera: 1 cup wheat berries; 2 cups milk, 1/4 cup cream (can omit) 1/2 cup sugar

Soak wheat berries over night to soften. Change water and boil them for 60-90 minutes - till a bit chewy but not at all crunchy. Drain.

`
Combine milk, cream and sugar. Stir till sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and gently boil wheat berries for one hour. Drain, cool and put in an airtight container in the refrigerator till ready to use. (Can prepare 3 days ahead). The pastiera also freezes well for six months.

`

The list of ingredients is long - but it is so simple. Just mix well after each addition. This creamy, rich pie is Easter and spring on a plate. The goodness of cow's milk, the earthiness of sheep's ricotta (I used cow's ricotta), the sweetness of sugar, the spring promise of citron and citrus zest and my mother's addition of chocolate and sprinkles. Ciao Chow Linda has the legend of the pie on her blog. Find it here. You will understand the deep connection Italian families to this pie. Each region (and probably family) has their own recipe. Mine is below.

Italian Easter Wheat Pie Ingredients - makes two deep dish 9-inch pies - with enough left over to make your own personal one - I highly recommend making your own personal one!

`
4 servings of pasta frolla (pie dough) - your favorite or store-bought
1 cup pastiera
2-1/2 cups ricotta cheese (whole-milk)
1/2-3/4 cup granulated sugar (go with 1/2 cup if you do not want a sweet custard; more if you do)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1-1/4 Tbl cornstarch
1/8 lb. citron (my family omits this; my mother hates citron - what can I say? We're all opinionated!)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tbl orange blossom water
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (my family's addition)
colored sprinkles (my family's addition)

`

Italian Easter Wheat Pie Preparation
The trick to making this cheese-custard is to combine well after each addition. The preparation is very easy.

`
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two 9-inch deep dish pie plates with pie dough. Scatter 1/4 cup of chocolate chips in each.
Beat your ricotta till smooth.
Add your pastiera and sugar and beat.
Add your eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.
Combine 1/2 your milk with the cornstarch. Stir to dissolve. Add the milk with cornstarch, the rest of the milk and cream. Beat well.
`

Add citron (if using, I do not). Add your orange blossom water and zests and combine.
Pour into prepared pie pans. Cut remaining pipe dough into 1-3 inch wide by 10 inch strips and lattice the top if you wish. (Can leave plain). Cover the top with colored sprinkles.
Bake for one hour. Turn oven off and leave in oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can serve at room temperature or cold. Will keep up to five days refrigerated or freeze for up to six months.
While pastiera is hard to find, the grains are not. Both wheat berries and farro (from Bob's Red Mill) can be found in the baking aisles of most grocers these days.
`

Fill the sweet-cheese-custard mixture to the top.

Lattice it as best you can.

After turning off the oven, let it cool for 10-15 minutes inside the oven before removing it.

When cooled, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Serve cold or at room temperature. (I prefer room temperature).

`

I want to thank you all for so many kind words. It was so comforting to read daily. Appreciated. And warmed me. We still all laugh. And we cry. And practice gratitude. As my life returns to a routine, I shall be visiting all of you soon. I miss your inspiration, your nourishment and your gifts. Buona Pasqua and Happy Spring. It's here. In blooms. New life. A new day.