FREE ITALIAN SOUP RECIPE

Back to Italy Naples Sicily Amalfi Coast

First Stop NAPOLI
 
 
and
 
PIZZA !!!
 
 
 
 
la PIZZA
 
e PIZZAIOLO
 
 
 
la BELLA NAPOLI
 
Old Postcard of Naples
 
 
 
AMALFI COAST
 
RAVELLO
 
View From The Top
 
 
 
 
POSITANO
 
 
 
 
MINORI
 
The Amalfi Coast
 
aka
 
Costa di Amalfitana
 
 
 
 
 
VILLA MARIA
Lemon Grove Farm Agroturismo
in
Minori
 
 
This is Where I’ll Be Staying for Three Glorious Days
(Maybe More)
On The AMALFI COAST
 
One of The Most Beautiful Spots on Earth “Bar None”
 
This is The View From AGROTURISMO VILLA MARIA
in
MINORI, ITALY
 
This is One of The Many Gorgeous Views From The Property
 
Looking Down Onto the Lovely Town of Minori and Out On To The Sea
 
The Tyrrhenian Sea
 
 
 
This is My Back Porch Terrace of My Room
 
at
 
VILLA MARIA
 
 
 
Lemon Trees at Villa Maria
 
 
 
On to SICILY
 
 
 
 
Taormina
 
 
 
 
The GREEK THEATER
 
at TAORMINA
 
with
 
Mt ETNA
 
 
 
Piazza del Duomo
 
TAORMINA SICILY
 
 
on to PALERMO
 
 
A View of PALERMO
 
 
 
Mondello
 
 
Mondello is a Lovely Beach on The Outskirts of Palermo
 
 
 
Then on To My Friends at Villa TASCA
 
Villa Tasca
 
 
 
VINEYARDS at VILLA TASCA
 
 
 
 
Me & Conti Ciuseppe Tasca
 
with a Bottle of Giuseppe’s Famed Rosso del Conti
 
 
 
On to My Grandparents Home Town
 
 
 
My Maternal Grandparents
 
PHILIPO & JOSEPHINA BELLINO
 
with My Mother LUCIA
&
UNCLE TONY
 
Lodi, New Jersey
 
about 1940
 
 
I Will Go to The City Hall in Lercara Friddi and get any pertinent records
of my Grandparenst Philipo & Josephine. I will also go to the church they were
baptized in as well as being married there ..
 
Note : Our family Name was Bellina, spelled with an “a” not an “o” but like
many immigrants passing through Ellis Island back at the turn of the Century (1900), the
correct spelling of my Grandparents was changed slightly from Bellina to Bellino. Since that was the spelling of their name on the very important document of them passing through Ellis Island, New York in 1904, it was the spelling they stuck with and used.
 
 
 
The Chairman of The Board
 
Francis Alber Sinatra
 
aka FRANK
aka
 
FRANK SINATRA
 
Ancestry of Lercara Friddi, (Sicilia) Italy
 
 

My Grandparents who came from Lercara Friddi, the same town as Frank Sinatra and

Lucky Luciano, immigrated to America and settled on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in Yorkville, and lived there for a few years before moving to the town of Lodi in New Jersey, which was at the time inhabited sole of Italian-American Immigrants, of which 90% of them were from Sicily …
 
My Grandfather Philipo was a Shoemaker in Lercara Friddi as was Frank Sinatra’s 
grandfather. It’s most likely they knew each other being from a small town in the 1880’s, 90s, and early 1900 Hundreds .. We may even be related which I will try to find out at the city hall in Lercara Friddi. “Wouldn’t that be Cool?”
 
 
On to See My Friend FRANCISCO PLANETA
 
of
 
PLANETA WINES
 
 
PLANETA VINEYARDS
 
Sambuca, Sicily
 
 

 

CORLEONE
 
 
 
 
AL PACINO
 
 
 
aka
 
Michael Corleone
 
 
 
 
OFF to MARSALA 
 
to Visit My Friends Jose & Antonio Rallo 
at
Their Family Wine Estate DONNAFUGATA
 
 
 
View of MARSALA
 
SICILIA 
 
ITALY
 
 
DONNAFUGATA
 
MARSALA, ITALY
 
 
 
Brother & Sister
 
JOSE & ANTONIO RALLO
 
 
DONNA FUGATA VINEYARDS
 
MARSALA
 
 
 
 
Me & My FRIENDS WINES
 
CAMPACIO, VENICA SAUVIGNON
 
DONNAFUGATA “MILLE UNA NOTTE”
 
BARBI BRUNELLO
 
PLANETA CERASUALO Di VITTORIA
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SUNDAY SAUCE
 
by Daniel Bellino Z
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
GRANDMA BELLINO’S ITALIAN COOKBOOK
 
RECIPES From MY SICILIAN NONNA
 
by DANIEL BELLINO-ZWICKE
 
COMING JULY 2015
 
Recipes From Josephina Bellino Her Children & Grandchildren
Advertisement

Zuppa di Cucuzza

ZUPPA di CUCUZZA
 
“THATS a GAGOOTZA” !!!
.
.
RECIPES FROM MY SICILIAN NONNA 
 
by Daniel Bellino “Z”
 
 
 
 
 
ZUPPA di CUCUZZA
.
    “Gagootz” !!!!
.
 
This is a soup that mymother used to make every now and then. Usually when
her friend Mary Santangelo gave her a couple big Cucuzza, from their backyard garden
in Garfield. Mymother Lucia learned this recipe from her mother who used to make it back in
Sicily, and she learned how to make it from her mother, my Great Grandmother Salemi.
This dish is one of the quintessential recipes of this book, and also of both the Italian-American
and Sicilian-American table as a whole, and ofcourse of Sicilians in Sicily, especially in the years
of the first 70 years ofthe 20th Century from around 1900 to 1970’s or so. The soup is easy
to make and quite economical, feeding about 15 or 16 portions of which you can
serve over a 3 – 4 day time. Cucuzza are not always available in every store,
however more and more super markets are carrying them during their growing season,
and you can always get them at any produce store that specializes in Italian
foods.
 
This soup is a soup ofcourse, but almost a pasta dish as well, and you can vary the amount of pasta you like. Cooking pasta separately on the side and when you are serving it,
you will use double the amount of pasta or more, with less liquid in the soup
and using the soup actually as a sauce. I always do this, as there are always
leftovers when making a pot of it, and serving it as a pasta is a nice welcome
alternative to give one variety from the same dish. I do the same with Lentil
Soup to make Pasta Lenticchie, a pasta dish. In addition, if you like, you can
sauté one link of Italian Sweet or Hot Sausage, serve up the soup as either
pasta or soup and add a link of sausage or two to each plate. You will love it
any way you do, as do the Bellino’s and millions of other Italian’s have over
the years.

So make it, and enjoy, and always Mangia Bene Amici!

 
 
 
 






.
GAGOOTZ
.
 
 
 

ZUPPA di CUCUZZA 

 
RECIPE :
 
 
1 large Cucuzza ak.a.
Gagootz
1 large onion, peeled and
diced
6 Garlic Cloves, peeled
and sliced thin
8 tablespoons Olive Oil
½ teaspoon Red Pepper
Flakes
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
½ tsp. Black Pepper
6 Plum Tomatoes, chopped
1 pound fresh cooked
Fava Beans, or frozen Baby Lima Beans (or canned lima beans)
1 pound imported Italian
Ditalini (or Ronzoni)
 
Cut off ends of theCucuzza and peel it with a vegetable peeler. Cut the Cucuzza in half
lengthwise.
Scoop out seeds and discard. Cut into 1 ½ inch cubes.
 
Put olive oil and cucuzza in a large 6-quart pot.
 
Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon.
Add onion and cook for 4 minutes more.
Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
 
Add red pepper, and cook for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook on high heat for 5 minutes.
 
Add water and cook on medium-low heat for 12 minutes.
Add Fava Beans (or Lima Beans) and cook on low heat for 6 minutes.
 
Cook Ditalini accordingto directions on package.
 
When finished cooking, drain in a colander,
making sure to reserve 2 – 3 cups of water to add to soup.
 
Add all the pasta to the soup.
Add salt 7 Black Pepper and stir.
 
Add water little by little to the soup until you reach the consistency that you like.
 
The soup should be fairly thick, yet slightly watery.
 
Ladle soup into bowls.
 

Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top of each bow of soup and pass grated
cheese 
for your guest to put in their soup.
 
 

Save any remaining soup
in a closed container to enjoy anytime for lunch, dinner, 
or anytime
in-between.
 
 
 
 
 
 
ZUPPA di CUCUZZA
 
 
Mangia Bene !!!
 
 
 
 
Grandma-B-Art-ORIG-7-15
 
 
RECIPES
 
in GRANDMA BELLINO’S ITALIAN COOKBOOK
 
 
 
 
 
 
ALSO by DANIEL
 
 
SUNDAY SAUCE
 
WHEN ITALIAN-AMERICANS COOK
 
on AMAZON.com
.