Joseph Francis Periale and Mary Elizabeth Winship, Gotham Hotel, New York City, November 11, 1961
I want to also tell about my father Joseph Francis Periale’s family, a large Italian clan which welcomed my beautiful WASP mother with open arms. Years later, when my mother left my father, his entire family was wounded. It was the first divorce in the family. After my father’s death, she finally returned, again to open arms, while attending my brother John James’s wedding. Maybe it could have happened earlier, but the timing was finally right.
Elizabeth Anne Periale & Gertrude D'Ippolito, c. 1967, Wall Township, N.J.
As a child it was easiest for me to slip into the Italian persona. I had the hard-to-pronounce last name, and a fairly large, very voluble accompanying family that were only too glad to share their memories and stories. My grandmother, Gertrude D’Ippolito Periale, an amazing cook, would gather us all together and feed us family delicacies and cuisine that I always thought was Italian, but as an adult have learned that the concentration of black olives, eggplant and olive oil in most of her recipes was specifically Sicilian. One her favorite recipes which I still prepare today is eggplant parmigiana.
Gaetana/Gertrude
There are a few different versions of my Grandmother's name and how she "lost" it. She was born in 1899 in Marsala, Sicily, as Gaetana Marta D'Ippolito, the youngest of six siblings. She came to the United States at the age of five in 1904 with her mother and two younger siblings.
Ship's manifest from the Napolitan Prince, 1904 - Gaetana Marta D'Ippolito line 6
As a child it was easiest for me to slip into the Italian persona. I had the hard-to-pronounce last name, and a fairly large, very voluble accompanying family that were only too glad to share their memories and stories. My grandmother, Gertrude D’Ippolito Periale, an amazing cook, would gather us all together and feed us family delicacies and cuisine that I always thought was Italian, but as an adult have learned that the concentration of black olives, eggplant and olive oil in most of her recipes was specifically Sicilian. One her favorite recipes which I still prepare today is eggplant parmigiana.
Gaetana/Gertrude
There are a few different versions of my Grandmother's name and how she "lost" it. She was born in 1899 in Marsala, Sicily, as Gaetana Marta D'Ippolito, the youngest of six siblings. She came to the United States at the age of five in 1904 with her mother and two younger siblings.
Ship's manifest from the Napolitan Prince, 1904 - Gaetana Marta D'Ippolito line 6
One family story says that when they were going through Ellis Island the clerk couldn't spell Gaetana and they changed it to Gertrude. I don't really buy that, as they would have had to change every passenger's name, if you look at any passenger list from that period. Another story said that the change came via a Catholic school nun. This sounds much more likely. Many of my generation in the family lament the loss of the "beautiful" Gaetana to Gertrude. One cousin has immortalized her birth name by christening his boat Gaetana. They are both names, and Gaetana certainly sounds more Sicilian. I used to sigh as well, but my grandmother never seemed to mind. Years later as I was going through and organizing my father's possessions after his death I found a bundle of love letters from Grandfather John Angelo to my grandmother. They all started, "My beloved Gertie . . ." I have never had any trouble thinking of her as Gertrude since then.
Gertrude's family called her Tanina as a child, a form of Gaetana as a nickname. I am probably the only family member who insists on my last name, Periale, being pronounced the proper, Italian (Piedmontese), way (Payh-ree-AH-lay.) The Americanized way to say the name is (PAIR-ee-uhl) or as my brother likes to say, emphasizing the last syllable (Pair-ee-ELL). I grew up never knowing how to correctly pronounce my last name, finally asking Gertrude and I have said it that way ever since.
Gertrude’s Eggplant Parmigiana
2 - 3 large eggplants, cut into slices 3 cups tomato sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350
Sauté the eggplant slices in olive oil, place on paper towels to absorb excess oil. When all the eggplant slices are ready, place them on the bottom of a baking dish. Spoon tomato sauce on top of eggplant. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese. Continue layering in this manner until all ingredients are used. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and bake uncovered for half an hour or until the cheese on top layer has
melted.
Variation: 1 cup ricotta cheese, 2 cups cooked ground meat (beef, veal, pork or combination) can be used as additional layers.
My family spent many weekends at Gertrude’s house many weekends throughout my childhood, and there were numerous wonderful meals. But the best visits always seemed to be on holidays, when most of the rest of the family would come, and Gertrude would make our family’s “specialty,” sfincioni, and we’d all sit around the dinner table for hours and hear stories and arguments and jokes.
Elizabeth Anne Periale, December 25, 1964, Spring Lake Heights, N.J.
When I was a child I thought sfincioni was a complete creation of Gertrude’s. I have since learned that it is a variation on a popular Sicilian dish, pizza rustica, meaning country pizza. Pizza rustica is a filled pizza, or pie. Gertrude’s version was filled bread, a treat, to be sliced and served warm, as an appetizer. The two-crust dish is filled with provolone, mozzarella, salt and pepper in an egg paste, mixed with finely chopped salami, prosciutto and sometimes tiny meatballs. I have seen other recipes where the fillings include sausage, pepperoni and ricotta. I have even seen a sweet pie recipe of sfincioni with raisins, cinnamon and walnuts in a sweet ricotta filling. Everyone in our family makes sfincioni slightly differently now. John Massimo probably came the closest to Gertrude’s perfection. Paula sometimes makes it with phyllo dough, or as a small turnover. Sometimes I make it with a braided top, or like a quiche.
I have found one of Gertrude’s Sfincioni (alternate spellings: sfingioni, sfinciuni) shopping lists:
After the sfincioni had been devoured and the dinner eaten and the coffee and the dessert served, everyone would remain seated at the table. There would be an air of anticipation as we waited for the inevitable jokes and arguments, or more politely put, “dynamic conversation.”
On one such occasion, John Massimo, an avid reader of popular historical fiction, began discussing and recommending Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy
, which he had just finished reading. He expounded on events portrayed in the novel, a mixture of fact and, possibly unbeknownst to John Massimo, Stone’s imagination. As he talked on, the discussion ranged from Italy and Italians and the Renaissance to the “real life” of Michelangelo. Soon scenes from the popular movie
version of Stone’s book blended in to the conversation: how Diane Cilento, who played his love interest in the film, Contessina de Medici, was “so lovely.”
My mother, an artist with an interest in history, had been sitting quietly throughout most of this entertaining talk, but suddenly blurted out, “But of course everyone knows that Michelangelo was a homosexual?” The table became silent. My dad softly piped in his agreement. He had given my mom a book one Christmas of Michelangelo’s paintings which also included the artist’s correspondence, much of it love letters he had written to young men...
The silence was palpable. In one deft stroke Mom had showed the novel and the movie to be more romance than history. Not to mention undermining the glorification of a macho Italian artist (and John Massimo's oration).
Family stories, recipes, controversy historical and hysterical (Gertrude would regale the family with stories of torture she got from a book someone gave her. Sicilian judges who were flayed alive, and their hides were tanned and the seats for the new judges were made from the skin of the old judges!) and especially a few off-color jokes—my brother John James and I always looked forward to family gatherings!
CW: John James Periale, John Massimo Periale, Rose Anzalone, Myra Jean Morris, Mary Elizabeth Winship, Elizabeth Anne Periale, James Gabriel Periale, in Little Italy, N.Y., July 25, 1981.
Of course John James claims his favorite memory of a family gathering was when John Massimo brought a garbage can full of clams and other seafood, including scungilli and sea urchins to James Gabriel's house in Ridgewood, New Jersey and everyone who ate the sea urchins got sick! As a kid, I was off the hook from that tasting, but obliged to at least try the scungilli, which tasted like rubber marinated in vinegar and oregano. I must admit that one of my childhood fears was the thought of having to taste scungilli (conch or whelk salad) again...
Don’t let me forget some favorite treats that accompanied every holiday: John Massimo
would always bring a panettone (Christmas cake) and we would always have amaretti (almond cookies). Red wine was of course omnipresent. After dinner liquers such as Amaretto (almond flavored liqueur) and Galliano (anise and vanilla flavored liqueur) would be served. Or sometimes Gertrude would take a little Marsala wine. One year we had vanilla ice cream with Galliano poured on top—simply delicious!
Elizabeth Anne Periale, December 25, 1964, Spring Lake Heights, N.J.
When I was a child I thought sfincioni was a complete creation of Gertrude’s. I have since learned that it is a variation on a popular Sicilian dish, pizza rustica, meaning country pizza. Pizza rustica is a filled pizza, or pie. Gertrude’s version was filled bread, a treat, to be sliced and served warm, as an appetizer. The two-crust dish is filled with provolone, mozzarella, salt and pepper in an egg paste, mixed with finely chopped salami, prosciutto and sometimes tiny meatballs. I have seen other recipes where the fillings include sausage, pepperoni and ricotta. I have even seen a sweet pie recipe of sfincioni with raisins, cinnamon and walnuts in a sweet ricotta filling. Everyone in our family makes sfincioni slightly differently now. John Massimo probably came the closest to Gertrude’s perfection. Paula sometimes makes it with phyllo dough, or as a small turnover. Sometimes I make it with a braided top, or like a quiche.
I have found one of Gertrude’s Sfincioni (alternate spellings: sfingioni, sfinciuni) shopping lists:
provolone, mozzarella, salami, prosciutto, meat balls, milk, butter, flour, yeast, 16 large muffin (tins), 12 small, 1 large round (cake pan), 1 smallShe must have been preparing a feast! I dimly recall a Christmas holiday when she had made little sfincioni muffins. They were delicious savory-filled popovers.
After the sfincioni had been devoured and the dinner eaten and the coffee and the dessert served, everyone would remain seated at the table. There would be an air of anticipation as we waited for the inevitable jokes and arguments, or more politely put, “dynamic conversation.”
L-R: Alfred D'Ippolito, Joseph Francis Periale, John Massimo Periale, Grandma (Gertrude D'Ippolito's) birthday, c. 1980, Little Silver, N.J.
On one such occasion, John Massimo, an avid reader of popular historical fiction, began discussing and recommending Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy
, which he had just finished reading. He expounded on events portrayed in the novel, a mixture of fact and, possibly unbeknownst to John Massimo, Stone’s imagination. As he talked on, the discussion ranged from Italy and Italians and the Renaissance to the “real life” of Michelangelo. Soon scenes from the popular movie version of Stone’s book blended in to the conversation: how Diane Cilento, who played his love interest in the film, Contessina de Medici, was “so lovely.”My mother, an artist with an interest in history, had been sitting quietly throughout most of this entertaining talk, but suddenly blurted out, “But of course everyone knows that Michelangelo was a homosexual?” The table became silent. My dad softly piped in his agreement. He had given my mom a book one Christmas of Michelangelo’s paintings which also included the artist’s correspondence, much of it love letters he had written to young men...The silence was palpable. In one deft stroke Mom had showed the novel and the movie to be more romance than history. Not to mention undermining the glorification of a macho Italian artist (and John Massimo's oration).
Family stories, recipes, controversy historical and hysterical (Gertrude would regale the family with stories of torture she got from a book someone gave her. Sicilian judges who were flayed alive, and their hides were tanned and the seats for the new judges were made from the skin of the old judges!) and especially a few off-color jokes—my brother John James and I always looked forward to family gatherings!
CW: John James Periale, John Massimo Periale, Rose Anzalone, Myra Jean Morris, Mary Elizabeth Winship, Elizabeth Anne Periale, James Gabriel Periale, in Little Italy, N.Y., July 25, 1981.
Of course John James claims his favorite memory of a family gathering was when John Massimo brought a garbage can full of clams and other seafood, including scungilli and sea urchins to James Gabriel's house in Ridgewood, New Jersey and everyone who ate the sea urchins got sick! As a kid, I was off the hook from that tasting, but obliged to at least try the scungilli, which tasted like rubber marinated in vinegar and oregano. I must admit that one of my childhood fears was the thought of having to taste scungilli (conch or whelk salad) again...
Don’t let me forget some favorite treats that accompanied every holiday: John Massimo
would always bring a panettone (Christmas cake) and we would always have amaretti (almond cookies). Red wine was of course omnipresent. After dinner liquers such as Amaretto (almond flavored liqueur) and Galliano (anise and vanilla flavored liqueur) would be served. Or sometimes Gertrude would take a little Marsala wine. One year we had vanilla ice cream with Galliano poured on top—simply delicious!
Gertrude D'Ippolito, December 25, c. 1976, Waretown, N.J.
Gertrude didn’t write down her recipes, but I have some notes:
Gertrude didn’t write down her recipes, but I have some notes:
Veal marsala—Have a beef roast on Sunday, saving the gravy, drippings and deglaze the pan, make the veal marsala from these drippings.She taught my mom many of her recipes, which have fortunately trickled down to me. One of my favorites which I haven't had in years:
Tomato Sauce—first you take some olive oil, deglaze. Chop bacon and onions—about the size of a horse’s teeth (!) Brown the onions, bacon and garlic. Add peeled tomatoes, a little bit of sugar, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, 1/2 can of tomato paste, 1 can of water—simmer one hour.
BracioleFrom Aunt Paula: sometimes in the afternoon Gertrude would take a spoonful of ground coffee (Medaglia D’Oro) and chew the grounds. Every once in a while she’d add a little Marsala to the coffee cup.
2 lbs. beef steak or veal, sliced and pounded
1/4 inch thick and cut into 4-6 pieces
2 tbsp. minced sweet pepper
2 tbsp. grated cheese (Parmesan or Romano)
3 tbsp. minced parsley 2 cloves garlic, minced black pepper
1/4 cup ground beef
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups tomato sauce
Spread the meat flat. Mix remaining ingredients, except oil and tomato sauce. Put a bit of the stuffing in the center of each piece and roll up and tie tightly with string at both ends and in the center. Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté meat until well browned on all sides. Add tomato sauce, cover, and simmer slowly for 2 hours or until meal is tender. Clip strings and serve in tomato sauce over pasta or rice.
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