Thanksgiving: Italian Style

Rhino Rollover

Growing up in an Italian family was a special thing to me especially around the holidays. I remember as a kid living in a small apartment with my parents and older brother, my dad’s mother lived in the adjacent apartment. We would always go over to Grandma’s apartment because she was always conjuring up something food related. I was about 5 years old and being the precocious little guy that I was I would always want to know what Grandma was doing. A lot of the time she would just shove something into mine or my older brother’s mouth and asked us how we liked it. It would range anywhere from traditional pasta dishes to clams and even on a rare occasion tripe.

My dad’s older brother and his wife lived in the house in front of our two unit apartments, so I was surrounded by most of our immediate family. During Thanksgiving it seemed like from morning till night everyone was in the kitchen preparing something. From lasagna’s to ham to the traditional turkey, there was probably enough food to feed the block. Then of course there were the dessert dishes waiting in the wings after we all gorged ourselves on the delectable main courses. It seemed like around the holidays there were no problems, no worries, everything was great. It was almost like a video game where you could put outside life on pause.

To me Thanksgiving is totally about exactly what the word implies, giving thanks. I am so thankful for my LORD and savior Jesus Christ, my loving and supporting family, amazing parents that raised me up and instilled a lot of my morals and values I still hold to this day. I know this Thanksgiving will be just as wonderful as ever as it will be spent with family and loved ones and of course a bountiful buffet of wonderful entrees. I also have something else to look forward to as I have an 18 month old son that can share in the experience. His mother like my Grandmother is always concocting some kind of dish where even though he can’t really talk yet he gets a mouthful of whatever it is. But when he comes around for seconds we know it’s something that he enjoyed. I just wanted to share a little bit of my heritage and how things were for me around this wonderful time of the year. I wish everyone that reads this an amazing holiday and may God bless you and your loved ones. I would also like to share a great Italian dessert recipe with you as well.

Peaches with Amaretti Stuffing
Ingredients: 4 ripe fresh peaches
Juice of ½ lemon
2/3 cup crushed amaretti cookies
3 tbsp marsala, brandy or peach brandy
2 tbsp butter, at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
This serves 4

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the peaches and cut them in half, make sure to remove the pits. Scoop out some of the peach to slightly enlarge the hollow using a small spoon. Sprinkle peaches with the lemon juice.

Step 2: Soften the amaretti crumbs in the marsala or brandy, let sit a few minutes. Next beat the butter until soft, then stir in the amaretti mixture and remaining ingredients.

Step 3: Arrange the peach halves in a baking dish in one layer hollow side up. Divide the amaretti mixture into 8 parts and fill in the peach hollow’s stuffing up the center. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Peaches can be served hot or cold.

Step 4: ENJOY!!!!

-AngryDago-

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