RECIPE

TURTEI

“Turtei” means “tortelli” or “ravioli” in the dialect of my grandparents, who grew in peasant families in northern Italy. The biggest town in the area was Berceto, known for its ninth century cathedral, which sits along Via Francigena, an ancient Roman road. It is also well known for its funghi. My grandparents, whose story is told in Eat Now; Talk Later (eatnowtalklater.com), had some strange pronunciations, no doubt influenced by Austrian and French invaders. For example, prosciutto was pronounced persütt (with an umlaut) and formaggio for formagg (with soft “g”). Here is a local recipe for turtei.

INGREDIENTS

You need a mix of greens, usually Swiss chard, spinach and beet tops, but any mix of comparable seasonal greens—peasant foods are practical, if nothing else, as well as resilient and forgiving.cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Carry out the bowl in both hands held high above your head. Land on table with ceremony.

MORE STORIES

The following are stories that didn’t make it into the book, mostly because they did not quite fit the book’s theme. Nevertheless, they are worth telling and worth reading.

FORAGING

To save money during the winter, my grandparents burned wood instead of coal in the kitchen stove. Tony got the wood from the West Side rail yards between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues. It was discarded stuff, usually pieces of crates or broken skids. To haul it home, he’d built a dolly on rubber wheels that was pulled by a rope.

He and my father foraged on Saturday mornings, arriving as early as possible to avoid the billy club-wielding railroad dicks. Father and