Food, one of the common denominators of humankind. I am 100% Italian,
so my whole life I have been schooled on the two "F's", or the two
basic pillars of the Italian culture, Family and Food. I remember meals at my
grandmother's house on Sunday afternoons. Everybody would gather in the kitchen
stealing bites of braciole
(pronounced bra-zshee-ole-a, thin strips of beef rolled around a mixture of Italian
cheese, bread crumbs, and eggs, then seared and finished by placing them in a
pot of tomato sauce), or dipping Italian bread in the sauce and generally
getting scolded for being in the way. For us kids, it was a constant barrage of
great aunts pinching our cheeks and saying things like, bella (beautiful), or faccia
(naughty). Then we would all sit at a big table and eat a meal of several
courses for hours. Once we were done, the adults would retire to the living
room and sip amaretto or anisette (licorice flavor liqueur), while we played.
After about an hour or so, just when we started to feel like we could breathe
again after ingesting all that food, my grandmother would ask if anyone was
hungry, and she would offer to make a sandwich or something. All that to say,
food is still a big part of our lives, and feeding people brings a great deal
of satisfaction. I will be contributing food related anecdotes from time to
time here, and ironically, for my first I'm attaching a non-Italian recipe!
Here's my version of key lime pie. Buon
appetito!
This is the 1999 American Pie Council’s National Pie Championship’s
first place winner in the Quick and Easy Category. Garnish each piece with a slice of lime and a
dollop of whipped cream or whipped topping, if you like.
Ingredients
5 egg yolks,
beaten
1 (14 ounce) can
sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime
juice
1 (9 inch)
prepared graham cracker crust
Directions
1. Preheat oven to
375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Combine the egg
yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into unbaked
graham cracker shell.
3. Bake in
preheated oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped topping and
garnish with lime slices, if desired.
That's the basic
recipe, but:
Here's my take on
it. Instead of a pre-made crust, I take 1 1/2 C graham crackers, 6 T butter
melted, and 1/8 C of sugar. Mix and
press into an 8" spring form. Whip 1 pint of cream and top. Also, for a
bit of texture and zing, I zest a lime and add 1/2 to the batter and 1/2 as a
garnish sprinkled over the whipped cream.
Joel DiGloria is a realtor with a passion for feeding people,
caring for babies, and playing the saxophone.
Since moving to North Carolina from Alaska more than thirteen years ago,
he and his family have made a concerted effort to get back to their Italian
roots. He is an internationally licensed
chaplain and plans to work in the nursery at Forsyth Medical Center in
Winston-Salem and volunteer in their chaplaincy services later this spring.
