Sunday at grandma’s
On Sunday, grandma invited her sons and daughters over. This was my first time experiencing a traditional Southern Italian family lunch, which often resembles an actual reception with over 15 people. She started cooking from six in the morning, and this was the menu of the day: mixed specials, cold cuts, dairy (burrata, ricotta, stracciatella and several mozzarella cheese types), grilled vegetables grown by the local farmer, homemade in-oil vegetables (cardoncelli mushrooms, artichokes, eggplant) and lasagna as first course.
How beautiful it was once out of the oven!
The crust, even though slightly burnt, was extremely inviting.
As second course, we had lamb chops with a side of oven-baked potatoes. What can I say? A delight. Lastly, the dessert, we had sour cherry-filled panzerotti*. A family recipe passed down for generations, from mother to daughter. Simply put, it was a culinary paradise.
Watching everybody eat was like torture for me. I started crying until my grandma gave me some Matera bread crumbs, a local delicacy present in every respectable house. I started chewing on those, but they were nothing more than an appetiser to me. Grandma understood straight away and got me a tiny warm piece of lasagna and placed it on my lips. I gave her such a big smile that she gave me another piece. Yum.
Everything was just perfect, from the ‘al dente’ lasagna sheet to the minced meat mixed with the tomato sauce. There was one last surprise: stretchy scamorza cheese.
Happy, but not entirely satisfied, my attention now shifted to the lamb and potatoes. It was now my dad’s turn to be persuaded, so I stared at him and, as usual, started crying. This tactic had worked so far. He set me down on his lap while he kept eating his lamb. ‘Maybe not the lamb ‘I thought‘ but I’ll have the potatoes’. I made my intentions clear by reaching for his plate. I put my tiny hands in my mouth: I can still remember the crispy texture of the potatoes, soaked in the taste and smell of the lamb.
That is how I, without having any, found out what lamb tasted like. I loved to eat!