Nonna’s Cooking
- Leigh Gerstenberger
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
Like many of my contemporaries I grew up in a home where food was a daily ritual that often involved more than just eating. While this is a universal truth, it seems to be accentuated more if one grew up in a home where meals originated or at least were influenced by a European or other ethnic background. In many cases that could be German, French, Spanish, Polish or Slavic in origin. In my case, I was introduced to Italian cuisine at a very early age.
My maternal grandmother was born in Sicily and spent her entire life cooking, caring for her husband, their four children, members of her extended family and sewing. She was a master seamstress who made wedding dresses from a shop on Park Ave. in New York City.
From the youngest age I was introduced to her coffee cake (made with brioche dough), lasagna and an exotic dish called Timbali which was baked in a large, cast-iron bowl type of skillet with layers of eggplant, cheese, meat, sauce and yes, peas. After this concoction had cooled, the bowl would be turned upside down on a platter and removed leaving a mountain of layered food!
Grandma also had the unique ability to peel an orange so that the rind would come off in one long piece which my sister and I would wear as imitation eyeglass frames! To this day, after scouring the internet, I can’t for the life of me, figure out how this is done!
These memories and many more came flooding back to me recently as I watched the movie Nonnas on Netflix. The movie is based on the true story of Jody “Joe” Scaravella who opened a restaurant in 2007 as an homage to his grandmother Domenica and his mother Maria, for whom the restaurant is named. All the chefs are grandmothers! The link to the story, and the video can be found below. Mangia!
Comments