A sweet salute to St. Joseph

Mention the word

spingi

in my family and we all know it's that wonderful time of year again - the March 19 celebration of St. Joseph's Day.

Only then does my mother assemble a dining table covered with traditional Sicilian delicacies, all in honor of the poor carpenter.

As the tradition goes, anyone who prays to St. Joseph for a favor would promise to lay out a table on his feast day to feed the poor. In more recent times, friends and neighbors would come and make contributions for a charity.

In Sicily, where the tradition originates, the scene features children dressed as Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, and the Guardian Angel as they recite the couple's flight to safety and the Christmas story.

The meatless dishes reflect Joseph's humble stock: a crusty, dense, sesame-covered bread shaped in symbols like a cross, circle and Joseph's staff; pasta con sarde (a tomato sauce with sardines) sprinkled with fried bread crumbs (a poor man's cheese); frittata made with broccoli, cauliflower or other vegetables; and an array of flowers, fruits and sweets including pastries like spingi and zeppole.

Not all Italians celebrate St. Joseph's Day. It appears to be regional even in Sicily, where the tradition continues in the provinces of Agrigento, Enna and Siracusa.

When my mother was growing up there in the tiny town of Campobello di Licata in the province of Agrigento, many families would offer the elaborately decorated tables and open their homes to visitors.

These days, the tradition is still celebrated in church and taught to schoolchildren there as part of their heritage.

In some cities, like my hometown of Buffalo, St. Joseph's Day remains a major holiday with tables offered in his honor around the region. While tables don't appear to be as popular in the Philadelphia area, there are St. Joseph's Day traditions.

Louis Testa, who grew up in West Philadelphia, remembers going first to Mass on St. Joseph's Day followed by a stop at the local bakery to buy zeppole, a doughnutlike pastry filled with ricotta cheese and chocolate-chip cannoli filling, or vanilla or chocolate cream, and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon with a cherry on top.

Now that he owns his own bakery, Testa carries on the tradition from a recipe he learned from a previous employer, Peter Criniti, a baker from Calabria.

Testa makes St. Joseph's cakes or zeppole only during the month of March. Other bakeries in the region also offer a zeppole pastry around St. Joseph's Day.

This year, the holiday falls on a Monday, the day Testa's bakery is usually closed, but he plans to open just to serve up the zeppole.

"People wait for it and they appreciate it more," said Testa, who usually sells 200 dozen over the 31 days. "I appreciate it more. It's a treasure. We take pride in it. When they are gone, they are gone."

Steven Sansone, chef and co-owner of Porcini's Restaurant in Center City, plans to serve spingi as a dessert treat to patrons on March 19.

Lighter than doughnuts, tastier than cream puffs, and sprinkled with powdered sugar, spingi (pronounced SPEEN-jee) are delicious bites of tradition that conjure up warm memories of family and friends gathered together (they are also known as sfingi and pronounced SFEEN-jee).

Part of the fun is watching the soft dough roll off a tablespoon into the hot oil and gently balloon into a small irregular-shaped ball, rolling around until golden brown. Sprinkled with powdered sugar, they are best eaten warm.

Making the spingi takes Sansone back to Buffalo, where his grandmother Rose Sparcino first made spingi in her home on the Italian west side. It's her recipe that he uses now.

"I feel like I am honoring my family, my ancestors and my history," he said. "It's my favorite holiday. . . . you know that all generations before you have done it and it's going to continue. It brings all of the generations together in one room."

Makes about 2 dozen

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2 cups water

2 cups all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons shortening

6 large eggs

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Confectioners' sugar and/or honey, for

coating

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1. In a 2-quart saucepan, bring the water to a boil.

2. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder; set aside.

3. To the boiling water, add the shortening. As it melts, stir in the flour mixture to form a pasty ball. Set aside to cool.

4. When the dough is cool enough to handle, add the eggs, one at a time, kneading lightly to form a soft dough.

5. In a deep fryer or saucepan half filled with oil, heat the oil to 375 degrees or until the surface shimmers.

6. Drop the batter, by tablespoonsful, a few at a time into the hot oil. Fry until puffed and golden brown. Remove to drain on paper towels.

7. Dust with confectioners' sugar or brush with honey.

Note: Rose Sparcino's recipe is similar, but with no baking powder. It does include an optional ounce of rum for flavor.

Per Spingi: 99 calories, 3 grams protein, 9 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram sugar, 6 grams fat, 53 milligrams cholesterol, 47 milligrams sodium, 0.3 gram dietary fiber.

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Makes about 1 dozen

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For the pastry puffs:

1 cup hot water

4 ounces (1 stick) butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sifted

all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon each:          grated orange          and lemon peels

Oil for deep frying

For the ricotta filling:

3 cups ricotta

cheese

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla    extract

2 tablespoons

each: grated          orange and

lemon peels

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1. For the pastry puffs, in a medium saucepot on medium-hot heat, mix the water, butter, sugar and salt and bring to a boil.

2. Add the flour, all at once; beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture pulls from the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat.

3. One at a time, quickly beat in the eggs. Beat smooth after each addition. Beat until mixture is smooth and glossy.

4. Add the orange and lemon peel; mix thoroughly.

5. In a deep fryer or large pot, heat the oil to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls, a few at a time, into the hot oil. Do not crowd. Fry to golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels. (If desired, to bake puffs, drop the dough by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes; reduce to 350 and bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes more.)

6. Meanwhile, to prepare the ricotta filling, beat the cheese, sugar, vanilla, and orange and lemon peels with a mixer until light, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

7. When the puffs are done, let them cool on a rack. When cool, cut a slit in the side of each puff. Use a pastry bag or injector to fill each puff with ricotta filling. (Whipped cream or prepared pudding may be substituted, if desired.)

Per cream puff: 310 calories, 10 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrates, 20 grams sugar, 18 grams fat, 116 milligrams cholesterol, 250 milligrams sodium, 0.5 gram dietary fiber.

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