Happy St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day

Angela

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One is celebrated on March 17th and the other on March 19th.

The only thing I like about St. Patrick's Day is the food. In terms of "street" holidays I dislike it only a little less than Mardi Gras. When I worked in midtown I wouldn't even go out for lunch if it fell on a weekday. There's a limit to how many people wandering around, weaving, falling down, cursing, fighting, and vomiting I can look at. No one ever vomited on one of my expensive Italian shoes during St. Patrick's Day, in contrast to Mardi Gras, which is why it scores a little higher.

Yes, I like corned beef and cabbage, as a main meal and later in a sandwhich with a nice mustard and some rye bread. :) The only time I like rye bread, btw. Going to the home of my husband's best friend later on. They celebrate it in honor of his Irish wife.

I've heard the "real" Irish version is somewhat different, but I don't know if that's correct.

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Also really like Irish soda bread, at least the sweet kind. Picked some up yesterday. Of
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course, I've never met a sweet bread I didn't like.
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In my area it's mostly a Sicilian-American thing celebrated with nice desserts, usually zeppole and nice pastries a bit like profiteroles.

When the zeppole (deep fried dough balls dusted with powdered sugar) aren't over fried and too heavy, they're quite addictive:
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In Italy, this is also Father's Day, so they go all out, especially in Campania, even though the meal needs to be meatless because it falls in Lent.

Yes, they eat zeppole and various pastries and cakes, but numerous other dishes in various courses, almost always, or so I'm told, including pasta e ceci, fried fish, vegetables and particularly fava beans.

This is an example of what they call a "Tavola di San Giuseppe" or the table of St. Joseph.

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"At the centre of the feast is ‘St Joseph’s Table’, upon which this mountain of food will be arranged. Nothing is placed on the table by chance; every item embodies some emblematic association or auspicious end. Bread takes centre stage, as the most perfect expression of man’s toils transformed into sustenance, and recalling as well the ancient Roman grain festivals once observed at the end of winter. Sweets, particularly fried and cream-filled pastries, mean a temporary reprieve from fasting and abstinence during Lent. Flowers, asparagus, wild fennel and fava beans laid around the table speak to springtime’s imminent return, while lemons, oranges and wine represent the fruit of the preceding season’s labours. Fish-based dishes symbolise Christ, and there is usually no meat present on the table."

It actually is more like an altar from which the people take food. At the end the remainder is given to the guests, neighbors or the poor.

This seems to me a remnant of very ancient feasting celebrations, both in the Neolithic and with the Indo-Europeans.

In the Lunigiana there are bonfires (we do love bonfires), and sometimes pageants, but I don't remember this kind of extravagance. Also, our fritelle are made of sweetened rice and egg and milk mixture, sort of the same recipe as our sweet rice pie, but fried.

St. Joseph is the patron saint of La Spezia so there is a fair every year, which is fun if you like fairs. It's a nice time to visit our area. With all our southern Italian and now Middle Eastern and African migrants, you can get any food under the sun, but Lent is forgotten, and porchetta is probably the favorite food. :)

 
Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day



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1.2 ☘ ... the perfect excuse for an extra Guinness. :grin:
 
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Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is a celebration or tribute dedicated to parents. It pays tribute to fatherhood and the influence of man in the lives of his children.

During the celebration of Father's Day it is customary to give gifts and perform activities together, such as eating as a family.

It should be noted that the typical recipes of Father's Day revolve, above all, around the sweet. Perhaps the only exception is the tortillitas de San José, a typical Andalusian dish, consisting of hard bread, eggs and garlic and that originally served to take advantage of the bread of the previous days in that way, to follow the maxim of traditional gastronomy and hard times and crisis where everything serves to make a delicacy.

Buñuelos de San José: Deep fried hollow dough that is then steeped in sugar, perhaps the most widespread elaboration in our country for this date. To find the origin of this post there are several versions. Some people think that the buñuelos come from the word "puñuelo", a kind of ball that the Romans kneaded with their fists, others think that the word comes from the French "beignet". Although it is also said to be a dessert of Arab tradition. The Arabs who lived in Granada drank honey water fritters, a dough that was fried in oil and then bathed in boiling honey and from which there are recipes in books from the s. XVI.

bunuelosanjose.jpg


Catalan Cream: Typical dessert in San José in Catalonia, although it varies a lot depending on the region, but which is always based on a pastry cream, egg yolk and a crunchy surface with burnt sugar. Its origin is found in a convent of nuns with a curious history. The nuns received the visit of a bishop and, to entertain him, they prepared the custard that came out so well. It turns out that the flan did not set correctly and the nuns decided to mix it with cornstarch and then put it in the oven. Then they served it to the bishop as a soft porridge and with the caramel, toasted by the heat, above. Needless to say, the bishop loved it.

crema.jpg


Txirloras de San José: Typical sweet from the area of Vizcaya and Navarra where they are known as "chips". They are similar to the cigarettes of Tolosa. It is a kind of tea cake, its shape evokes that of a wood chip in homage to the profession of San José and the Aitas (parents in Basque). How ingredients have butter, icing sugar, flour and egg faces. In some places they bathe in chocolate.

txilor.jpg


Rosquillas de San José: Its origin goes back to the ancient Roman Empire, a time when its recipe spread to a large part of Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Also known as dormant donuts, they are prepared with egg, flour, yeast and anise, then fry them. Then sugar is sprinkled and they are usually eaten at lunch or at breakfast. In Iscar, lumber town of Valladolid, they are called "Ciegas de Iscar" are a delight that must be tried if or if.

bunuelos-de-san-jose--md-52306p65990.jpg


Paparajote: The quintessential sweet of the Murcian garden for the day of San José and for the Spring Festival. Of Arab origin as well as the tenderloin, it counts as ingredients that make them unique, the lemon leaf. If you want to know more about this delicious dessert do not miss the post I wrote a few days ago in this blog.

Paparajote.png
 
san%20jose.jpg


Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is a celebration or tribute dedicated to parents. It pays tribute to fatherhood and the influence of man in the lives of his children.

During the celebration of Father's Day it is customary to give gifts and perform activities together, such as eating as a family.

It should be noted that the typical recipes of Father's Day revolve, above all, around the sweet. Perhaps the only exception is the tortillitas de San José, a typical Andalusian dish, consisting of hard bread, eggs and garlic and that originally served to take advantage of the bread of the previous days in that way, to follow the maxim of traditional gastronomy and hard times and crisis where everything serves to make a delicacy.

Buñuelos de San José: Deep fried hollow dough that is then steeped in sugar, perhaps the most widespread elaboration in our country for this date. To find the origin of this post there are several versions. Some people think that the buñuelos come from the word "puñuelo", a kind of ball that the Romans kneaded with their fists, others think that the word comes from the French "beignet". Although it is also said to be a dessert of Arab tradition. The Arabs who lived in Granada drank honey water fritters, a dough that was fried in oil and then bathed in boiling honey and from which there are recipes in books from the s. XVI.

bunuelosanjose.jpg


Catalan Cream: Typical dessert in San José in Catalonia, although it varies a lot depending on the region, but which is always based on a pastry cream, egg yolk and a crunchy surface with burnt sugar. Its origin is found in a convent of nuns with a curious history. The nuns received the visit of a bishop and, to entertain him, they prepared the custard that came out so well. It turns out that the flan did not set correctly and the nuns decided to mix it with cornstarch and then put it in the oven. Then they served it to the bishop as a soft porridge and with the caramel, toasted by the heat, above. Needless to say, the bishop loved it.

crema.jpg


Txirloras de San José: Typical sweet from the area of Vizcaya and Navarra where they are known as "chips". They are similar to the cigarettes of Tolosa. It is a kind of tea cake, its shape evokes that of a wood chip in homage to the profession of San José and the Aitas (parents in Basque). How ingredients have butter, icing sugar, flour and egg faces. In some places they bathe in chocolate.

txilor.jpg


Rosquillas de San José: Its origin goes back to the ancient Roman Empire, a time when its recipe spread to a large part of Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Also known as dormant donuts, they are prepared with egg, flour, yeast and anise, then fry them. Then sugar is sprinkled and they are usually eaten at lunch or at breakfast. In Iscar, lumber town of Valladolid, they are called "Ciegas de Iscar" are a delight that must be tried if or if.

bunuelos-de-san-jose--md-52306p65990.jpg


Paparajote: The quintessential sweet of the Murcian garden for the day of San José and for the Spring Festival. Of Arab origin as well as the tenderloin, it counts as ingredients that make them unique, the lemon leaf. If you want to know more about this delicious dessert do not miss the post I wrote a few days ago in this blog.

Paparajote.png

It all looks wonderful. The bunuelos seem to be exactly the same thing as our zeppole.

In my area our doughnuts are flavored with lemon, but I love anise and that sounds even better.

Such a coincidence that you mention that custard dish. A youtube cook whom I follow recently put up a segment on making a Portuguese version. I have to be honest and say it looked very labor intensive and baking is not my first love, so I never planned to make it. Sounds delicious, though. (I don't think the lemon, vanilla and cinnamon are traditional)

 
^^
I prefer those that are already invented.
 

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