Rejuvenate family life together – in the kitchen

This summer will be one to remember. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live, work, and play. The family life we once knew pre-COVID-19 has been reintroduced in the most positive way. The mandatory lockdown imposed on most of us due to COVID-19 led to shelter-in-place orders that offered opportunities for a family togetherness and bonding capable of birthing a rediscovery of the true essence of family life.

Today’s family lives a life of busyness. It seems as though our to-do lists never end. The family goes from one activity to another and then another. Coupled with our texting and socialmedia obsessions, there’s seemingly no time or space for true family unity. Togetherness and in-person interactions can appear nonexistent. This global pandemic has brought social and economic challenges, but at the same time it has given today’s family a redefining moment, a chance to uncover the depths and opportunities for creating new, lasting, and meaningful family traditions.

Food and family meals are at the heart of many family traditions. During the lockdown, when restaurants and eateries unfortunately were forced to close their doors or limit their operations, many families did a lot more cooking at home. The kitchen became the place for the family, where members congregated to teach and to learn to prepare meals. Baking bread at home suddenly became the hottest shared experience in some families. Others were making homemade pasta, pizza, soups, and other dishes together. All kinds of new dishes and recipes were being tested and experimented with in planning the evening’s meal.

Something more was happening than new menu items. Although prepping the evening’s meal involved work, it also created opportunities to collaborate and share in the preparation of homemade meals. At this stage of the pandemic, some, if not most, are still cooking nearly all meals at home. This ongoing experience of collaboration in the kitchen has brought many families to a deeper unity and closeness. Though food is important for our bodies from a nutritional perspective, for many it has become more about sharing and nurturing relationships with each family member.

How do we create family traditions? We need to come together, to be present to one another, and to interact with one another. This makes it possible to share and create ideas, thoughts, laughter, and love for one another that eventually converge to create those cherished generational family traditions.

In his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, Pope St. John Paul II exclaimed, “The family has the mission to become more and more what it is, that is to say, a community of life and love.” Yes, this is when families create everlasting traditions, when food transcends the bodily needs and enters into the spiritual realm for the love of the family.

CHEF NEIL FUSCO is founder of Cucina Antica Foods, Corp., a specialty Italian food-products company. Raised on a farm in San Marzano in southern Italy, he learned his family’s production and cooking with the renowned San Marzano tomatoes they’d grown there since the 1800s. His 2017 cookbook, May Love Be the Main Ingredient at Your Table, presents amusing and heartfelt stories about faith, family, and recipes from his Old World childhood.

PANNA COTTA • Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. unflavored gelatin (about 2 envelopes packaged gelatin)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. cold water
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Fresh fruit

Preparation:

1. In a small saucepan, combine gelatin and cold water. Let stand about 1 minute, then place over low heat until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat.
2. Combine cream, half-and-half, and sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
3. As soon as the cream mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat and add the gelatin water and the vanilla. Stir well.
4. Divide panna cotta mixture into 6 to 8 ramekins and allow to cool. Once at room temperature, cover and chill for 4 to 8 hours, until panna cotta is set.
5. To serve easily, dip the sides of each ramekin into warm water for 3 to 4 seconds. Then, using a thin-bladed knife, loosen the panna cotta from the sides of the ramekin, and then turn it over onto a small plate.
6. Serve with fresh fruit.