My dad Died 1n 1991, but I am reminded of him in many different ways. My Mom, Eleanor, is 91, and lives alone, by choice. She takes care of herself, and enjoys a robust life shopping, cooking and working on her computer. She loves to send and receive emails. We marvel at her because when she was born, the streetlights in her neighborhood were gas lit, airplanes were a very rare and unimportant thing, and cars were for the very wealthy. Today she pops a CD ROM into her computer, and listens to music while she prepares her breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we talk, she often tells me that when she listens to a Sinatra or Tony Bennett song, she imagines dancing with Dad, and all the good times they had together. After more of the the usual banter, talk often turns to food as food really is a metaphor for life in our family.
Not too long ago, my wife, Marsha, found an envelope containing a number of my Dad's hand written recipe's. There are in addition to those found in his privately published, small cookbook, Pat's Pride. He loved to cook, and had been doing so since he was a young man and helped his mom with his 13 brothers and sisters. He also cooked in the National Guards, at the Fire Station (He was a proud fireman.), in various restaurants and at home on special occasions. Even during recovery from a heart attack he thought about food, and recipes. He would either mail them to us, or bring them when he and Mom visited. He even learned to type during his recovery period. One of his accompanying notes read: " Hi, I've got to do something or go nuts. So I tried typing ..." That note was accompanied by the recipe for Rotolo di Lasagna that is in the menu below.
Although he was an accomplished plumber, electrician and, as mentioned, a fireman, I believe that he enjoyed cooking more than anything . His recipes mirror the foods he had as a young man. His mom, my maternal grandmother Jennie, was a superior cook, so he learned at the hands of a master. We are sure that he got his ideas for meals from his family experiences as well as from reading cookbooks, magazines and newspapers. He would always tinker with a recipe to make it more to his taste. As he grew older, he collected recipes on scraps of paper, and one never knew when a slip of paper, about to be discarded, contained a recipe on the other side. When I sifted through the envelope with his recipes, I came across a rectangular piece of yellow paper with handwritten notes about rice on it. Upon turning it over, I discovered that the paper was a label for an Inglenook Vintage Chardonnay!
As you can see from the recipes, my Dad was a devotee of Veal - all kinds of veal. Therefore many of these recipes use veal as the main ingredient. From time to time , we will add other, non veal based recipes from his cookbook to this Suite.
We at The Artisan feel that it is important to preserve family traditions. We are certain we are not alone in that endeavor. One way to keep family members with us is to preserve recipes and cooking and baking methods used by our parents, grandparents, and other family members. Our loved ones will not be with us forever. Although they, as we, will disappear from this earth, perhaps a part of them will live on in the recipes they will to us.
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