An Italian-American Thanksgiving

Now that Halloween has come and gone, we are heading into the holiday season in earnest. It may be easy to overlook Thanksgiving with all the holiday jingles and lights decking store fronts all over the city. Thanksgiving was first celebrated by the Pilgrims and Native Americans at the end of a successful autumn harvest. A traditional Thanksgiving meal usually consists of roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Families today create their own Thanksgiving traditions, so you might find yourself at a table with lasagna and garlic bread or hand-pulled noodles and sauteed fried green beans.

With so many non-Native New Yorkers in this city, Thanksgiving in NYC has also become a holiday for friends to come together for a potluck celebration. For those unfamiliar with this term, a potluck is a meal where each guest contributes a dish of his/her choosing. With this version of Thanksgiving, people often bring ethnic dishes the represent a piece of their history to the table. Below is an example of what you might see at the Thanksgiving feast of an Italian-American family.

The picture above is from the Signorelli Thanksgiving last year. If you look in the center of the table, you will see the breaded Cauliflower. (it’s blue Cauliflower!)

Cavolfiore Impanato
(Breaded Cauliflower- My favorite part of the Thanksgiving Meal at my Mom’s!)

There has never been one Thanksgiving past, that didn’t include this traditional Calabrian dish. Even for people that don’t love cauliflower, you may convince them with this. It is also very simple to make; one of my greatest holiday memories as a child is doing just that – preparing the cauliflower for the fryer with my Mom and sister. This is the first thing to disappear every year at our table so my Mom has always made extra and froze them, so my sister and I could eat weeks, even months after Thanksgiving. ~Courtesy of Lindsey Signorelli, One To World's Development Coordinator
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2 Large heads cauliflower, about 4 pounds (1800 grams)
salt to taste
6 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cups fine dry breadcrumbs, homemade or unseasoned from the store
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano cheese
Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Separate the cauliflower into large florets about 2 inches across the top. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the cauliflower. Cook until the florets are tender. Then drain them and allow them to cool.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt and several grinds of pepper. In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese. Line your kitchen table with wax or parchment paper in preparation for the uncooked, breaded cauliflower.

One piece at a time, dip each piece of cauliflower in the beaten egg, making sure they are all well coated. Lift it out with a fork (or your hands!), letting any excess egg drain off. Then, cover each cauliflower floret in the breadcrumbs. Set the floret on your kitchen table (that should be lined with wax or parchment paper!) continue until all the florets are covered.

Put extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and heat over medium high heat. When the olive oil is heated (you will see the olive oil start to “wrinkle” in the pan) add as many florets as will fit loosely in a single layer. Do not over-crowd the pan or they will not all fry evenly. Allow the cauliflower to fry on both sides until they are caramel in color. Transfer the fried cauliflower to a tray or plate lined with napkins or paper towels. The cauliflower always tastes best piping hot! Yum!
* Serves about 8-12

How do/will you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are there any dishes from home you would share at a potluck?