Pizzelle Con La Mosto Cotto

Through a wonderful email exchange between my cousin Franco and I, I have gained a great deal of information about the tradition of Sette Minestre, and how my family continues to keep their Italian culture alive. For this assignment we were asked to choose just one food item to discuss, but in order to explain the significance of Pizzelle Con La Mosto Cotto, I must first describe the tradition of Sette Minestre.

My Nonni (grandparents) were born in Pratola Peligna, a city located in the Abruzzo region of Southern Italy.  The tradition for Catholic's to eat fish on Fridays, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and Christmas Eve comes from the Vatican rule to abstain in preparation of the great feasts. In my opinion, this is a very good example of a transition from a rule from a higher authority transitioning to a cultural ideology.  In Pratola, Sette Minestre is followed on Christmas Eve to fulfill this requirement.

Google translates "Sette Minestre" from Italian to Eglish as "Seven Soups". As I am sure any linguist will agree, the literal translation from one language to another can not always describe the true meaning of a phrase. So much more than soup, the 7 dishes include:

1 - Lentil Soup
2 - Chickpea Soup
3 - Spaghetti with a trout or whatever fish is available
4 - Cod fish with garlic
5 - Fried cabbage
6 - Scripelle Salata
7 - Fruit

In addition to these foods, there are specific sweets that are traditionally baked at Christmas. My cousin beautifully described the sweets of Christmas as baked aromatics including oranges, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

The sweets include:
1 - Panettone
2 - Pizzelle con la mosto cotto
3 - Scripelle dolce
4 - I ceci ripieni

Now that you have a little background into the meal which is described as "abstinence in preparation for a feast" (but truly sounds like a feast in itself), allow me to indulge you into my favorite sweet which I now have a much greater appreciation for, the pizzelle.

There are many types of pizzelles. My nonna (grandmother) used to bake thick waffle like pizzelles for our morning coffee, and thin more traditional pizzelles made on a beatifully ornate pizzelle iron for guests and holidays. If my memory is correct, which ever kind she chose to make, she always included anise. Some people do not like anise, and will substitute vanilla, or other flavors. I have even seen chocolate pizzelles, but I don't believe this is a traditional Italian flavor. The pizzelle con la mosto cotto uses mosto, which is the juice used to make wine, after it has been "cotto" (cooked) with sugar by being boiled down to a thich syrup. This makes the pizzelle brown in color.

Pizzelles are made by pressing a ball of dough between two flat irons. These irons are molded to include elaborate decorative designs on one side, and more basic square cross pattern on the other side.  Before the invention of modern electric kitchen gadgets, pizzelle irons were made with long handles to hold over a heat source such as an open flame, or a stove top. Today, you can puchase simple counter top pizzelle irons with their own electric heat source, very much like waffle makers.

I lost my beatiful nonna recently, but was blessed to receive her pizzelle iron from my father. It appears to be from the nineteen sixties and is labelled "automatic dolce" (automatic sweet). I am extremely excited to try and make the traditional pizzelle con la mosto cotto for you, and hope I can make my family proud. I am off to begin translating my Great Aunt's recipe! I'll leave you with my favorite word: MANGIARE!! (eat!)