The memories that food connects us with are primal, deep, and full of emotion.  Those emotions can
run the gamut from huge celebratory elation to sad feelings of missing those who are not here any
longer.  The foods that make those connections always bring us to a comforting place. A smell, a
taste, a look of something that brings you back is always welcome.  Today was one of those days.
Twelve years ago, a month after my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she was to undergo
treatment which was to start this week in 1999.  Her last at home meal was on St.Patrick's Day, 3/17
of 1999 at my dinner table.  I made Corned Beef and Cabbage.  She went into the hospital the following
day, I brought up Sfingi di San Giuseppe on the 19th, (from Delfini's on Hylan Blvd. , Staten Is., the
hospital was up the street from the Bakery) and after a very long month and some days, she passed
away on April 23.  I've always been happy knowing I cooked her that last homecooked meal before
she moved onto hospital food.  So this week is bittersweet, with memories of the end of Mom's life
and every year it seems like it just happened again.  The gift of hospitality and cooking that Mom and Dad
passed on to each of their children is a treasured item. 
      To feel the touch of Mom's arm around me I usually cook something that is completely her, and that
file is loaded.  It's amazing how many chefs today use the items that were pantry staples in our house
and create these dishes as new found revelations.  What a great heritage I come from, one where
raisins and pignoli, anchovies, good olive oil (alright, as my parents got older and were more fixed on
their fixed income, the oil became Pomace Olive Oil), greens and macaroni were all commonplace
ingredients, not the trendy new Italian exotics they seem to be as they pop on on menu after menu.
My connection dish for dinner tonight was to simply mix escarole with garlic, oil, raisin, pignoli, and
anchovy..then toss it with the macaroni and top it with chile flakes and pecorino.  A good 28.50 plate
in a good Italian restaurant, and for much less, a great bowl of pasta and vegetables for you to create
in your kitchen. Mom and Dad
at my dining room table in the early 90's, shocker, all of us around the table, sharing a meal we
cooked. 
  Start by cleaning a head
of escarole.  Pull the leaves off of the core, and discard the core.  Now soak the leaves in salted
cold water, submerge them in the bowl.  Escarole is generally full of dirt and small stones that
need to be removed.  Let the escarole soak for 5 minutes.  Empty the greens into a colander and
rinse under cold running water for 3 minutes moving the escarole around with your hands.  Shake
dry, the pat the escarole dry with paper towels.  Tear the leaves with your hands and reserve.  Start
cooking 1lb of dried pasta, I like using Campanelle, a fluted ruffled shaped macaroni that just seems
to handle this dish well.  Cook only till al dente according to the box.
In a large wide pan, heat 3 tbs. of olive oil and then add the escarole.  Saute' this for 6 minutes,
tossing frequently.  Add salt, maybe 1 tsp.  Then add 3 sliced cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 anchovy filets,
1/2 tsp. of chile flakes.  Toss all together and saute' for another 5 minutes.  Add 2 tbs. of Golden
Raisins (Sultanas) and 2 tsp. of Pignoli.  Toss together, saute' for 2 minutes then add 1/8 cup
of white wine.  Let this simmer till the wine has evaporated and you start to hear the 'scarole sizzle.

Your sauce is done, now add the pasta and heat it through, add 2 tbs. of grated  pecorino and let
this simmer for 3 minutes...then serve.  A delicious plate of macaroni and greens with lots of
texture, salty, sweet, crunchy, toothy...it's a wonderful Napoletana style dish.  Serves 6.
Even more wonderful is that it will always keep Mom and Dad within easy reach of my heart and
memory.
Make kitchen memories for your self, your family, your friends...