Author: Sista Felicia

It’s all About The St. Joseph Pasta this weekend!

Yesterday I picked up an extra hand crank pasta machine at Marshalls for only $24.99! There was no way I was leaving the store with that fabulous bargain in hand! One can never have enough pasta machine when annually making this amount of Sista Felicia’s St Joseph Semolina Pasta!

The cutting mechanisms on this Norpro Pasta Machine appears to be sharp enough to cut clean edges…I’ll keep you all posted during the live Stream broadcast how it preforms  throughout the day!

 St. Barry’s Drying Rack In Use

For Sista Felicia’s Homemade St. Joseph Semolina Pasta Recipe… click recipe video link below, filmed and produced by Giani Gallo from Gallo Productions.

Every Sicilian family makes their homemade St. Joseph Pasta slightly different. Some use eggs, some use white flour, some use semolina, and others use a combination of both.  The combination of ingredients and the pasta’s thickness really determines both the taste, and texture of the final traditional pasta dish. The St. Joseph “Goranza” is traditionally made with Cauliflower, fava beans, chick peas, and fennel frauns.  Some Sicilian families add several kinds of beans and some add the stalks and bulb of the anise.  Like all Italian and Sicilian recipes ….each family has their own twist.  Many make this pasta extremely thick and heavy, similar to the texture of wall paper paste, I do not. Over the years I have developed this pasta recipe and mastered the technique of making it.  If you’re looking for a pasta recipe that’s tender, light, and delicious, my Sista Felicia’s Semolina Pasta is for you!  Even The Mayor of Gloucester “Sefatia Giambanco Romeo Theken” gives it a two thumbs up, and looks forward to taking a 5 lb. bag home each year.  

 This Saturday we will be live streaming, Patsa Making Day! Preparations for the feast are in full swing at this time. My rosary ladies, close friends and family are geared up to gather in my kitchen for this weekend’s pasta event! On Saturday, all 130 lbs. of semolina pasta will be hand crafted, and set to dry on a large drying rack, creatively constructed by my husband St. Barry!  The hand crafted pasta will be served with our families “Goranza” Recipe passed down by my Uncle Michele and Aunt Vincie Millitiello. Our traditional “Goranza,” in english,“ sauce,” made with fava beans, cauliflower, chick peas, and fresh fennel furan, will be served on March nineteenth the official Feast Day Of  St. Joseph. The large pots of “Goranza will rest side by side with a large pot of “Sunday Sugu” minus the meat ingredients, for those who have not yet acquired a taste or appreciations for the  unique flovor of this pasta dish, but would still like to enjoy the hand crafted and blessed pasta. . Growing up I can vividly remember a long line of people waiting with containers in hand during my Uncle Mike and Aunt Vincie’s St. Joseph Feast Day.  A line from her stove in the kitchen went through the house, out the front door and down the street 2 city blocks.  People waited hours to get a potion of blessed pasta.  For the past few years I decided to take that tradition one step further, and send my family and guest home with a bag of dried pasta, and  small container of St. Joseph Goranza, so they can prepare and enjoy it one more time at home.  It has become the grand finally of our feast day.  Everyone waits in line for their opportunity to digs into the giant containers of stored pasta.  Each fills a plastic bag up with homemade dried pasta, and heads to the kitchen to pick up their container of Goranza by the stove top.  This new tradition is another “Gift Of Gold” that I hope to pass on to the next generation!