An Ascolian Kitchen

I grew up loving my Italian sounding name, Ascoli, but our family had no known Italian ancestry or culture. We were just an Aussie born family, cooking Aussie food, but knowing that a grandfather, Alf, had a childhood story about being orphaned, aged seven years.

Albert and Susannah Ascoli, 50th Wedding Anniversary, Maclean, 1947

Alf (Albert Ernest Ascoli, 1872-1956) believed that his parents died on a ship coming to Australia and he was separated from his brother and baby sister. The children were “taken in” by different families. There was no legal adoption or links between the families, and he was unable to trace his siblings. He never saw his baby sister again. But when Alf was in Queensland, hundreds of miles from his home in Maclean, NSW, a butcher recognised the unusual Ascoli name, and Alf met up with his brother, Frank.

This was a joyous family reunion and was noted in Alf's obituary. 

My genealogy research later discovered that Alf was born in Syndey and that Frank was not the brother Alf had remembered as a child, as Alf and Frank had different mothers. But this is another family story for later. A story that also uncovered a great grandfather as a French chef/cook (amongst other occupations).

All the Ascoli family enjoyed cooking and gardening. Recipes were planned around the seasonal fruits and vegetables. 

Italian cooking in my early life was seen as spaghetti, lasagna, pizzas, meat balls in tomato sauces, olive oil dressings and gelato. Spaghetti bolognaise, lasagna, and meat balls in tomato sauce were and still remain favourite recipes in our family.

Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna recipe, Pasta, 2015, Parragon Books Ltd. Bath. UK. pp 234-5.

My normal lasagna is made with the richest bechamel sauce full of melted grated cheeses (mainly cheddar but with some mozzarella and parmesan) and the meat mixture (often pork and beef) topped with grated mozzarella (with a little cheddar). Not a heart health food.

Vegetarian lasagna can be adapted from the above recipe using layers of vegetables such as: carrots with a little brown sugar, zucchinis and shallots with fresh herbs, spinach with pine nuts, etc.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Pork Meatballs, Bills Italian Food. Grainger, B. 2013. HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd. Sydney. pp 156-157.

As a child I discovered in my school Atlas that there was a town called Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region of Italy. It was many decades before I visited my beautiful Roman and medieval town. 

Ascoli Piceno scene. Artist Anna.Gandihi. 1997. Ceramic jar purchased in Ascoli Piceno.

Link to Ascoli Piceno

I learnt there that the "Ascolian kitchen is based on the ingredients, which constitute the base of their dishes, which are naturally occurring in nature...roast game...mushrooms, onions, capers, garlic...olives, anise and wild fennel" (Ascoli Piceno, 1997, p73). This reflects how my Ascoli family cooked i.e., using what was local and what they farmed. Many family members would also agree with "the passions of the Ascolians is fried food, everything is fried from appetisers to desserts" (Ascoli Piceno, 1997, p74).

Pasta, of course, is the main food of the Ascolian table. I discover a lasagna type recipe, vincisgrassi, "lasagna type noodles dressed with a meat sauce consisting of livers, chickens, loin and ham all submerged in a tomato base, and topped with parmesan cheese, truffles and a bechamel sauce." (1997, p75). Yet to try.

The most well known culinary treat of my town is Olive All'ascolan (stuffed olives). The large, green, tender olives of the Ascolian area are stuffed with a finely chopped meat mixture (beef, chicken, pork, carrots, onions. truffles) and then coated and fried (Ascoli Piceno, 1997, p74). 

Link to Stuffed Olives Recipe but missing the truffles

Olive All'ascolan (stuffed olives). Ascoli Piceno (1997, p60)

Before I visited Italy, the first authentic Italian food I tasted would have been in Wollongong in the 1960s, when my nursing friend, Paola, born in Bologna, invited me to her home. There I tasted the most delicious pasta sauces and main meals. Paola tells me the key to a good Bolognaise sauce is "not too much garlic and to cook the meat mixture slowly for a long time". 

Many more Italian recipes to try.

Some Italian recipes and cookbooks