Happy Ferragosto!  The Italian
Holiday which celebrates the middle of summer, and the holiday summer season in which many Europeans take
off, many times for two weeks or more.  Businesses are closed, people go to the warmer (ie: beach) areas, families
get together.  We were in Italy for Ferragosto 4years ago and celebrated with our family who lives in Matera in the
Basilicata region.  A day for eating and relaxing, the entire town was pretty much closed up..it also coincides with
the religious celebration of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  It is the day on which she died and then
was fully assumed into Heaven...a very powerful idea for those who believe, and no where is that religious and
Catholic fervor more prevalent than in the South of Europe.  The picture above is from a 2008 Italian advertisement
for the day...it says the day is to feast together...have a party...have fun...

     In my own family, being of Southern Italian ancestry ( are you sick of me saying that yet??) the day focused more
on the Name Day celebration..it was my mom's name, Assunta (Italian, meaning of the Assumption) and my
GreatGrandmother's name.  We'd get Mom a nice cassata cake for the "Buon Onomastico" from Alfonso's in
Staten Island.  It's also a day of obligation, Catholics are asked to attend mass on this feast day. 
  This is a painting from a church in Molfetta, Italy, down in the south.  The Greeks
probably celebrate the religious aspect of this day more reverently than the Italians.  Every Mary, Maria, Marie, Assunta,
or in Greece, Maria, Panagiota, and a host of other names gets a special nod on August 15.  The modern Italian
finds their way to the beach, or to the country..large gatherings of family and friends..a good time to celebrate.  So
how did this Italian-American spend his Ferragosto?  Well, just having come back from a trip thru the American
Southwest, I was itching to get my Italian groove back on...I started off by going to mass and lighting a candle to our
church's statue of the Assumption in memory of Mom, and one in memory of my Greatgrandmother( who never
came to America, died in Naples) then hitting the Salumeria for some fresh fennel sausage and ricotta.
    If a Salumeria (Italian word for Pork Store) is in your area,
that is where you want to buy Italian Sausages, preferably with fennel.  The supermarket brands, while you may
think they taste good, have lots of sugar, and other additives in them.  Seek out the better product.  Better yet,
if you can, make it yourself, but we all know that is not so easy.  I bought some mafaldine, which is the dried
pasta ribbons of just the ripple in the lasagne sheet.  They are awesome and festive...why?  because I said so..
always has been a favorite macaroni of mine.  I break them in half, boil them, and then dress the macaroni with
fresh ricotta, pecorino, and a Sunday sauce (gravy) which contains meatballs and the sausage. 


Not so difficult, make a nice sauce with meatballs and sausage, cook the macaroni, drain it...add some
sauce, lots of pecorino, mix, then add the ricotta, and serve it with the meats...instant feast.
Later in the evening, went over to my sister's house and made a batch of Pesto, that Ligurian wonder
sauce of garlic, parmigiano, lots of fresh basil, olive oil, and toasted pignoli, all ground and processed
to a smooth sauce for pasta or whatever...made it for a family party later in the week. 

There's my brother-in-law Andy with a HUGE Basnigol( basil) plant in his hands...and there are the fragrant
pignoli toasting in a pan...both used in the pesto.
  A work of Ferragosto love...pesto for the family...will probably go
over some macaroni.  After all the Southwestern and on the road food I've eaten over the last 2 weeks, it was
good to have my personal version of comfort food.  My kids were happy, the wife was happy...and I was happy,
they match comfort with my Italian home cooking, and that made my Ferragosto!!