Whether you’re Italian, Irish, Polish, Scottish, Mexican, you name it, almost every family has a traditional meal or time of year to sit down and eat a feast together. Some families get together more often than others, but many can relate to this.
I am a mutt of nationalities but growing up, Sunday was always the day to get our family together and have a big Italian meal. If we didn’t get together in Woodhaven (Queens) at my grandparents’ house off Woodhaven Boulevard, we would all get together at my parents’ house and have everyone over by 1:00 p.m. No one would be allowed over any earlier because my father always made sure we would wake up and go to 9:00 a.m. mass as a family. We would come home and clean the house, set the table for as many as seven, sometimes more.
Before mass, my kitchen, sorry, my father’s kitchen, was always filled with food to be prepped and cooked. He would hover over the stove while wearing slacks, his wing tips, a belt, a button-down shirt without a tie yet, and Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin singing in the background. My mother, after getting ready, would either help him prep, or yell at my sister and I to hurry up. This scenario would reappear in Woodhaven as well.
You see, I never had the urge to cook when I was younger. My sister and I were always spoiled with good food; we knew my mother and father would be cooking something delicious. It wasn’t until I moved out that I realized I couldn’t survive off Eggo’s and Hot Pockets. Many of my recipes are either made up on the spot, or a derivative of a family recipe. Sure, I have my gold mine recipes that I’ll only share with my family, but there are plenty I would be willing to share.
This meal here is my twist on a family meal we used to share together. It’s a combination of thin spaghetti with clams, scallops, shrimp, and as much garlic as my hand could chop. Clam sauce, after being cooked, was mixed into the spaghetti to be served, but on the side was all the seafood that cooked together with a light sauce. I took a box of fresh cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and cooked them with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and fresh basil, once softened, I crushed the tomatoes and let them continue to cook over the lowest heat and added just a half teaspoon of roasted red pepper flakes. I also added a ladle of pasta water.
In separate pans, I cooked scallops in one, and shrimp in another. Scampi sauce was the helping hand between the two as they were both cooked in oil, butter, and white wine. Parsley was added to the shrimp. A twist I enjoy is adding sweet vermouth. Once the seafood is cooked, it gets added to the tomato and basil sauce. Add the little neck clams, increase the heat from low to medium-low and cover. Continue to cook until the clams open up. Discard any clams that refuse to open up.
Finally, place the sauce — not “gravy” — into one bowl, and the pasta in another, top both with parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano or just shredded parmesan cheese. Italian bread, semolina bread, or my personal favorite braided semolina, go perfect with this meal. Be sure to use it to soak up the juices at the end.
Growing up, tea, coffee, espresso, rainbow cookies, “S” cookies, biscotti, pignoli cookies, sesame cookies, were all always brought to the table after dinner. We would also have a bowl of grapes, and the biggest bowl of mixed nuts you could ever image. It was very important to start the percolator before cleaning the dinner table as so it would be ready in time for dessert. My favorite dessert item was always my grandmother’s “ice-box cake” which was chocolate, graham crackers, and whipped cream.
Both sets of my grandparents are unfortunately no longer with us today, however, the memories of these Sunday dinners will forever be in my mind and heart. In memory of them and as I continue to say, remember, “take what you want, but eat what you take”.
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