Nana Penna & Her Cookbook

One of the many reasons I am writing this blog is to leave some sort of a legacy for my children and grandchildren.  When I first started this endeavor, I had done an Ancestry DNA test.   I had hoped to find out something or anything about my father’s family; especially his mother.  Nobody knows who she was or even what her name is and I am still working on that.  Some months ago,  my mom received a package from her cousin with some memorabilia of her grandmother, my Nana Penna, including a cookbook, some cooking utensils, and an espresso pot.  With her recent trip to Genoa to find some connection to her heritage, I decided to write a little something about my maternal side.

Nana and Grandpa Penna – My Mom’s Recollection

Nana Penna was my great grandmother and my mother’s maternal grandmother.   Her birth name was Maria Grace Petrucci, and she was born 1887 in Palermo, Sicily.  There are no records of when she came to this country, but my mom thinks she was a young child because she barely had an accent.

My Grandpa Penna, aka Edilio Penna, was born 1882 in Genoa, Italy.  He emigrated here in his early 20s.  When my great-grandfather arrived in this country, he opened up an import/export business of fine products and cheeses from Italy.  Nana, a stay at home mom, was 4’10, and Grandpa Penna stood well over 6 ft tall.  She had eight children, two of which died in childbirth.  They lived and brought up their children in a three-story brownstone in Brooklyn.

My great-grandparents raised their children to be well educated, including their daughters.  My grandmother graduated from college and was a school teacher.  The line of strong women started with my Nana Penna.

While my mother was growing up, Nana and Grandpa Penna entertained their children and grandchildren every week for Sunday dinner.  She said they were both excellent cooks.  The pasta and whatever was being served were always made from scratch, fresh that day.

My mom told me a story of a particular Thanksgiving when early in the morning a turkey was running around Nana’s basement, and several hours later, it was on the dining room table.  At dinner, she asked the dreaded question, “where was the turkey” and when the crowded table got quiet, the realization hit and all of the kids left the table crying.  No more turkeys were ever found running around for the kids ‘to see’ again!

My Memories

I do remember going to see my great-grandparents.  We didn’t go every Sunday because they lived so far away from us.  It was when we did go that somebody almost always threw up in the back of our station wagon.  You remember the one with the third row facing backward?  I remember Nana as a very robust woman.  Always in the kitchen cooking until she became ill around 80 and was bedridden.  Then it was my grandmother and great Aunts who did the cooking.  She passed away around 1971 in a little bedroom just off the dining room.

My great grandpa was always sitting at the head of the table. I  don’t think he ever got up from that seat, not even to light his pipe when dinner was over.  He kept everything he needed right by him.  Grandpa Penna lived to the ripe old age of 96 … and he never stopped smoking!

Nana Penna’s Cookbook

About two months ago, my mother passed Nana Penna’s cookbook and other treasures on to me. The cookbook was a simple little notebook with handwritten recipes that she had tried.

I thought it would be fun to go through the cookbook and try a recipe, so I chose Penna’s Fruitcake.

I had to do some improvising … If you notice, it says a “teacup” of the fruits and nuts.  I figured it was a small one and it prompted me to go up in my attic and go through the box I have of her china, looking for a teacup.  I didn’t find one, but I did see this demitasse/espresso cup and used that to measure.

The dishes were all wrapped in newspaper from 1979!  Just for fun, I took a pic of the back and front of the paper.

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I bought my own choice of dried fruits and could not find citron.  I replaced it with dried, sugared orange and lemon slices, chopping them into small pieces.

The recipe also calls for cherry wine; I didn’t even know there was such a thing. So I went to our favorite wine guy and inquired about it.  They didn’t carry it as it is not very popular.

While I was there, he googled cherry wine.  What we found out was that it had been popular back in the 1940s but would be hard to find in local liquor stores. (Fun fact – 85% of the cherry wine is from Michigan.) We chose to use a black cherry brandy in place of it.  I would use less than the 3/4 cup it called for and add a little bit of water for consistency and alcohol content.

So with all my ingredients in place, I went to work.  I just hoped it would be delicious.  It was quite easy to throw together, and I have to admit that the batter was amazing!  As a girl who loves to eat her dough, this was definitely in the top 3 of batters I have ever made.  I had high hopes!

               

I poured it into the borrowed bundt pan and stuck it in the oven. The directions called for 375 for an hour.  At 55 minutes, I looked and saw it was a little too brown.  It never occurred to me that the ovens from 50 years ago would not be as efficient as ovens of today.  Nonetheless, it had great flavor!  The slight dryness from overcooking was alleviated with a nice scoop of ice cream.

I think we can all concur that ice cream can fix just about anything … and it was just what the cake needed!

       

My New Christmas Tradition

I highly recommend my Nana Penna’s recipe!   My recommendations would be to add more fruit. The orange and lemon slices with the rest of the fruit were perfect!  But I would change it to an 8oz cup of each – or even more!  I would add the full 3/4 of cherry wine or black cherry brandy – maybe even a little more and cook it at 350, checking after 45 minutes.  I am going to be working on perfecting it and plan on making it again for Christmas.   Nana Penna’s Fruitcake just became my new Christmas tradition.

I am hoping both my Nana, and Nana Penna were with me when I was cooking that cake.  Interestingly, I had just been thinking of selling her china.  It has been in my attic for all these years, passed to me from somebody else’s attic, but now I don’t think I can.  Maybe that was why I made this cake when I did?  Perhaps they were with me telling me to hold on to it and preserve their legacy.  That is what I choose to believe – message received!

I am going to hold onto it, and maybe one day my great-grandchildren will do the same and think of me.  Hopefully, they will make the same choice and keep passing it down.  Just like the book that I hope to make out of this blog.  Just so there will always be a connection, a legacy to last forever and they will feel my love from Heaven.

Final Thoughts

My great grandparents were immigrants who came to this great country, raised their family and prospered.  They came through Ellis Island and lived the American dream.  They are the reason I am here and am very proud of my Italian heritage.  May the dream continue for all those who need a safe harbor to live and a free country in which to prosper, regardless of their race, creed, color, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.  America, the land of the free and home of the brave.  God Bless us all, everyone.

I am going to make sure that I do one random act of kindness today – I will let y’all know what it is on Monday!  I would love to hear about one from anyone of you!  #spreadlove

Sunday with Sandy For A Cause is always open.

Much Love Always,

Sandy

#BeKind #empower #enlighten #inspire #educate