A big thank-you to the actives and alumni of Fairmont State University’s Theta-Delta Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon for all their hard work on behalf of the 2009 Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival. Topping the list of thank-you’s: Porter Stiles, chapter adviser (and my pledge brother when I went active in the chapter a long time ago). Also on hand was legendary chapter adviser Frank Pulice, Jr. – who also happens to be the godson of my late great-grandmother, Isabella Oliverio – a prime inspiration for not only my book but my love of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. It was Frank who, back in our college days, pushed us to practice public service in the community, and Porter is carrying on that tradition with the current actives. The boys worked hard helping us setting up the street and then acted as servers during the Festival Cucina cooking demonstrations. And then there’s the alumni – many of them volunteer or man booths (including Vince Libonati and Eve of Seven Fishes’ author Robert Germano who both cook at the Cucina)and there’s a large number who show up in support of the event – and can be counted on to boost sales of food and drink. On behalf of everyone involved with the festival I want to say thanks again to the TKEs of Theta-Delta Chapter.
We had amazing weather, which no doubt helped, but also I think the Festival finally hit the “tipping point.” It was absolutely wonderful – especially the food. We’ll be posting pictures , recipes and video in the days and weeks ahead – for starters here are a few images to whet your appetite.
Bob
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It is almost Christmas and I am looking forward to my trip to Fante’s in the heart of south Philadelphia, PA. to do a little gift shopping for friends and relatives. Since arriving in the area 12 years ago, I have found it a great place to shop for all who enjoy cooking and I truly enjoy my interaction with the staff. Located in the famous Italian Market area of south Philadelphia, Fante’s is a treasure trove of cookware. If you are not fortunate enough to be in the area and still want to take advantage of Fante’s enormous inventory , visit their website at www.fantes.com . Since Feast of the Seven Fishes came out, Fante’s has regularly stocked the book and been one of our biggest supporters. So thanks Mariella and crew - we'll see you in a couple weeks!
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Prepare filling up to 2 days in advance, but definitely before pasta is rolled out. Remove the seeds from the pumpkin, do not take away the peel, slice it and roast the slices in the oven until soft.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Arrange the pumpkin in a roasting pan, sprinkle with rock salt, drizzle with the oil, cover with foil, and bake for about for 45-50 minutes, or until tender when pierced with the point of a knife. Alternatively, boil the pumpkin in hot and salted water until it become soft.
Remove from the oven or boiled water, allow to cool enough
to handle, then scrape the pumpkin flesh from the skin. Place the flesh in a
muslin cloth or a fine sieve and hang overnight above a bowl in a cool place to
drain off all the excess liquid. If you are in a rush, wait for the filling to
cool down before processing it.
Mash the pumpkin pulp. You might want to place the pumpkin in a food processor and blend until smooth. Or, you can mix manually. When the pumpkin is mashed, add the ingredients (Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese shredded, amaretto cookies pulverized, breadcrumbs, and eventually the syrup of Cremona’s mustard). Season to taste with lemon juice or grated skin, nutmeg, salt and pepper. If you are using a food processor, pulse-blend to combine until the stuffing is homogeneous. Mix well and taste. Filling should also be fairly firm and loosely hold together when formed in ball. If not, add up to 2 tb breadcrumbs.
Divide the dough in quarters and work with 1 portion at a time, keeping rest tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Knead and roll out on pasta machine to next-to-thinnest setting.
Put 1 heaped teaspoon of filling at 2cm intervals along each
strip of pasta. Fold over the long side of pasta nearest to you. Cup your hand
and carefully press down around each mound to get all the air out. Using a
serrated pastry wheel, cut out individual tortelli about 3cm square. Diagonally
fold over 1 corner of rectangle to meet opposite corner to form "paper
hat".
Set aside on floured kitchen towel and repeat until all dough is used up. Froze the tortelli before cooking them, it is the best way to prevent them to stick together when cooking.
Make sure that sage leaves are dry. Place the butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, whisking vigorously to stop the mixture splitting. Add 3 whole leaves of sage. When the sage leaves are brown, take them away and save to garnish the plate. Chop 3 sage leaves, add in the boiling butter and immediately switch off the fire.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add frozen tortelli in boiling water and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until pasta is cooked. Cooking time really depends on the thickness of pasta but in any case pay attention not to overcook them. Remove with slotted spoon, working carefully to avoid breaking pasta. Drain the tortelli, place in a warm serving dish.
Drain and serve, drizzled with the sage butter. Add the sage leaves just before serving. Sprinkle heated serving dish with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Toss gently. Buon appetito!!!
Each serving approximately contains about:
