Weekly Specials 01-23 to 01-29 “Soup of the Week” $6.60 Qt ~Beef Lentil ~ Or ~ Chicken ,Zucchini, Quinoa ~Or Vegetarian Lentil “Sangwitches” of the Week $9.44 “Chicken Parm Or Suprema Napolitana( with ham &fried egg) Or Eggplant Parmigana Weekly Specials & Sides $14.15 each Monday* Chicken Stuffed With Sausage , Zucchini &Grapes Tuesday * Broccoli Rape sausage / over cannellini beans Wednesday* Balsamic Glazed Pork chops /Rice Thursday* Chicken stuffed with cranberry and apples /mashed potatoes Fridays Specials Swordfish with warm rosemary olive vinaigrette/polenta Lobster ravioli Alfredo 4 Cheese Cauliflower Pizza Steamed Clams Italiano Genuinely Better www.JDeFrancoanddaughters.con Email portipasto@epix.net Open 7 to 7 Seven days a week
Growing Up in the Butcher Shop: Parmigana Ciao Amici, Two of our popular dishes we offer on J. DeFranco and Daughters catering menu are chicken & eggplant parmigana. There are many by different theories of the origins. Doing some research I went on Cillford Awright.com to get some facts. The most obvious is that the name of the dish derives from Parmigiano cheese, the predominate cheese used in the dish. Many food writers have voiced suspicion of this explanation because parmigiano is not native to Naples or other regions of southern Italy where eggplant Parmesan is found. They argue that, in fact, the dish originates in Parma in northern Italy, because either Parmesan refers to the city of Parma (which it does) or because the Parmesan cheese is from Parma (which it is). I have never been persuaded by this line of thinking because from at least the fourteenth century parmigiano was a widely traded cheese and found throughout Italy. Furthermore, the eggplant made its first appearance in Italy in Sicily and the southern regions, not in the north and it’s likely that a dish for eggplant would be invented in the south. Second, the dish is famous in the Campania region in general, Naples in particular, as well as in Sicily and Calabria and not in Parma. Another suggestion concerning the origin of the dish is offered by the Sicilian food authority Pino Correnti who argues that the word parmigiano actually comes from damigiana, a sleeve made of wicker where you put a wine bottle, or in this case, the hot casserole. Another explanation to the origin of the name of this dish is reported by cookbook authors Mary Taylor Simeti, Vincent Schiavelli, and several others. They suggest that the name has nothing to do with parmigiano cheese or Parma the city, but derives from the Sicilian palmigiana not parmigiana, meaning shutters, the louvered panes of shutters or palm-thatched roofs that the layered eggplant slices are meant to resemble. Variations made with breaded meat cutlets, such as veal and chicken, have been popularized in other countries, usually in areas of Italian immigration. In the United States and Canada, veal parmigiana or chicken parmigiana is often served as an entree, and sometimes is served as a submarine sandwich. It is also popular with a side of or on top of pasta. Diced onions or green bell peppers, sauteed or raw, are sometimes added. A similar veal dish is known in Italian as Cotolette alla Bolognese, however, traditional Italian recipes exclude tomato sauce from the dish. Costelette Parmigiana is another related veal dish, however, in Italy it is generally served without sauce or cheese. In Argentina and in other neighboring South American countries, veal or chicken parmigiana is topped with ham and served with French fries. It is known as Milanese a la Napolitano. If the dish is topped with a fried egg, then it is known as a súper milanesa or suprema napolitana. The origin of the dish was the Napoli restaurant in Buenos Aires during the 1940s. I like finding out the history of Parmigiana dishes but I’d rather eat them.Grazie,Joe J. DeFranco and Daughters Catering & Deli receive menu specials and our newsletter Join our mailing list at our WEB PAGEwww.JDeFrancoandDaughters.comClick on Mailing List and enter your e-mail Send us your Roseto stories, recipes and comments to E-mail: portipasto@epix.net