AND IF YOU ASK ME

by Grayce Pitera

Our local second-generation Italian moms of the ‘40s developed a unique technique designed to persuade their families to eat their vegetables. One common practice: you ate what was put in front of you or you waited until the next meal to eat again. Since sitting down at the kitchen table for meals was mandatory in Italian homes, housewives paid particular attention to what they served, who ate what and who missed a meal.
Many people think of Italian tables as being dominated by lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli and pizza on a daily basis. The truth is that in Italy, food has always been light, healthy and gourmet.
Pasta is woven into menus as a side dish rather than a full course meal, except on Sundays or special occasions. It is customary to have the decadent, stereotypical Italian meals on those days.
So when the Italians settled in Hammonton, they adhered to their traditional eating habits, and it was lucky for our parents that they did. Most Italians of that era lived well into their nineties. Their diet is now credited as a major factor of their longevity, second only to their hard work ethics.
The food channels feature many of the immigrants recipes today. Olive oil is on the accepted list of the American Heart Association.
The second-generation Italian moms of my era held steadfast to one very peculiar trait of the culinary skills they inherited from their own immigrant mothers. They were bound and determined to keep healthy foods in their families’ diets; so they wavered very little from one practice.
After exhausting all the conventional recipes such as tomato sauce or boiled greens to include vegetables in their families’ meals, they resorted to a specific sautéing routine. They fried everything with eggs. They used a tad of olive oil in their pans, carrying their healthful choices even further.
Eggs were the food that bound. They were taken for granted because they were always right there on hand. Rich in protein and a great meat substitute, eggs had already dominated Friday menus at a time when Italian Catholics were forbidden to eat meat on that day year round. Abstinence was a byproduct of being Catholic, so the Italian mothers needed to spark up their menus to keep their families happy.
Embracing most recipes from their elders, the younger housewives adopted the egg phenomenon with gusto. Some families kept hens in their backyards to ensure a fresh supply at all times. Thus, solving an economical issue at a time when finances were tight, eggs became even more desirable.
So when all other recipe options had been exhausted, moms fried asparagus, tomatoes, potatoes, peas, peppers, or onions with eggs. A full meal was comprised of eggs and potatoes, a fresh garden salad and a home baked loaf of Italian bread. In one full sweep the American housewife, whose ties originated in Italy, served healthy dishes rich in nutrients for her family.
This Americanized culinary quirk was no longer designated Friday fare any longer. Easy to prepare and loved by everyone in the household, the ladies began to see the merit of adding this combination in the form of sandwiches to weekend lunch tables or even their kids’ school lunch bags. Dads’ lunch pails also held fried eggs combined with the vegetable of the day. These sandwiches were made even heartier by the use of dense Italian bread.
Potatoes were another popular catalyst. Cabbage, peppers, or any other vegetable were fried with potatoes and the ladies had another economical meal that required no coaxing to be eaten. There were times that eggs were even added to this combination. So as long as the family chicken was laying on schedule and the garden was producing up to capacity, families never went hungry.
Vegetables fried up with eggs constituted the best lunches I ever tasted when I sat down at the Magazu table on Saturday afternoons. I was part of a group that played baseball at the empty lot on the corner of Egg Harbor Road and Eleventh Street when I was in seventh grade. Margaret, Al DeLaurentis, Irma Losse Woodman, Vincent Gazzara and Larry Silipino are kids I remember coming and going from the sandlot game.
If you were at the Magazu home, lunch came with the deal. I had been running in and out of that house since second grade; so it was like home to me. Margaret’s mom kept the lunch table going for all her children and their pals. We just sat down and waited. In no time at all, a platter was set before each of us, most times featuring vegetables, potatoes and/or eggs fried up together. As was the norm, they disappeared in minutes. We all loved her cooking, even our “American” friends.
There was not an Italian home that did not break a few eggs into a frying pan of vegetables and make a full meal when faced with unexpected company. The best part was that there was always enough for everyone. Another person dropped by? No problem, just add an extra egg or two and there was enough to cover the emergency.
A while back, Joe Coia asked me if I ever heard of an egg being served over plain pasta. I had not. The egg was lightly cooked, he said, keeping the yoke soft. The proper way to eat this dish was to mix the egg through the pasta first and then dig in. The egg formed a “sauce.”
He clipped the recipe from a newspaper and asked around. Not many people were familiar with the dish, but he did learn it was popular in the Rome section of Italy. Since most of our families came from Sicily, that would explain why we were not familiar with that particular recipe. It stresses a point though. Eggs were used throughout Italy in recipes we may not have yet tasted. They were that plentiful; their bounty still warrants exploration.
So, again, watching the food channels on TV, it seems that egg and vegetable combinations have become gourmet fare. It amuses me to watch the chefs promote the merits of dishes my mom prepared on a regular basis. Years ago this peasant food was thought of as being laden with fat, even labeled greasy by experts. That is not the case anymore.
Our mothers’ and grandmothers’ cooking methods are now the rave of professional cooks. As long as eggs are used as a substitute for meat, their cholesterol content is not an issue any longer. Science has handed down its verdict, settling an age-old controversy.
All we need to do is follow our instincts, mind tradition. We may now legitimately add eggs to our frying pans. Our health will not be compromised. Somewhere along the way, we make our taste buds happy too.
Can I give some advice to the novices out there? Go for the eggs and onions, eggs and asparagus or eggs and fresh tomatoes duos. They are definitely my favorites.