Despite being the foster father of Jesus the poor St. Joseph had to wait 1000 years before the Catholic church dedicated a feast to him. Indeed they were the Benedictine monks in 1003 to celebrate it on March 19th. Then came the Servants of Mary in 1324 and the Franciscans in 1399. The feast was finally promoted by the interventions of popes Sixtus IV and Pius V, and extended to the whole Church in 1621 by Gregory XV
And in the martyrology appeared the long-awaited official recognition of the «Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary: a just man, born of the lineage of David, acted as father to the Son of God Jesus Christ, who wanted to be called the son of Joseph and be submissive like a son to his father. The Church venerates him with special honor as a patron, placed by the Lord to custody of his family". With this same celebrating the saint and the father on the same occasion. But for St. Joseph, now celebrated all over the world, the sorrows weren't over yet because the Italian State on 5 March 1977 decided to abolish the public holiday for that date together with other holidays.
But the honors of St. Joseph all remain: as archetype of the father, in popular tradition he also protects orphans, unmarried girls and the most unfortunate. Due to these characteristics in some areas of Sicily, on March 19 it is tradition to invite the poor to lunch. In other areas the festival coincides with the end of winter festival: as propitiatory rites, the uncultivated fields are burned and bonfires are lit in the squares to be overcome with a leap.
The sweetness and meekness of the figure of St. Joseph are reflected in the numerous sweets that the widespread popular devotion pays him almost everywhere for his anniversary. According to tradition, after the flight into Egypt, with Mary and Jesus, Saint Joseph had to sell pancakes in order to support his family in a foreign land. Hence the fact that many of the sweets dedicated to the saint are fried even if they are then enriched with great flavours. In Rome The most famous, which bears his name, is the Saint John's cream puffs, traditionally fried and filled with cream (for some years it has also been prepared in the oven for more delicate stomachs) but there are also regional variations mostly based on creams and/or jams, with choux pastry.
In Naples it takes the name of zeppola di San Giuseppe. They are made with choux pastry and can be fried or baked; usually custard and black cherry jam are placed on top.
In Tuscany and Umbria, the rice pancake is widespread as a typical dessert, prepared with rice cooked in milk and flavored with spices and liqueurs and then fried.
In Molise, in particular in the municipality of Riccia, the typical dessert is St. Joseph's calzone (in Molise dialect "cavezone"), fried dessert, consisting of a puff pastry and a velvety filling made of chickpeas, honey and/or sugar and essence of cinnamon or vanilla or cedar.
In some regions of central Italy (especially Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio) there are also widespread sweets, always fried, based on rice cooked in milk to which vin santo, raisins or candied fruit are added to taste and which are called fritters.
In Sicily in Palermo the sfince di San Giuseppe are famous tasty and soft pancakes from Palermo, covered with a delicate ricotta cream and chocolate drops, chopped pistachios, cherries and candied orange peel; while typical of the Catania tradition and widespread throughout the island, are the fried sweets in the shape of rice-based chunks or sticks, flavored with orange peel and honey, known as rice zeppole or rice crispelle.
Especially typical and different from the others the dessert prepared in Emilia-Romagna: the Raviola, a small pastry shell or donut dough resealed on top a spoonful of mustard, of jam or cream, cooked in the oven (but there is also a fried version). The sour taste of the pistachio filling combines perfectly with the sweetness of the dough, giving rise to a rustic pastry, genuine and very tasty, which can be kept for up to three weeks. In the countryside it was a peasant tradition keep a plate of raviole on the windowsill to offer to anyone passing by An act of social generosity a bit like paid coffee in Naples. In Fiesso, a fraction of Castenaso, they were even hung from the hawthorn hedges so that passers-by could use them freely. The feast of St. Joseph and raviole are so connected that a popular saying reads: "For St. Joseph eat raviole, for Easter boiled eggs and lamb".
At Trebbo di Reno, in the province of Bologna, there is a true cult for Raviola. Every year on the third Sunday of March, there is the bicentenary custom of celebrating a "Festa della raviola" which includes both religious rites and other events that attract relatives, visitors and tourists to the town. This year the dates of the event are 17, 18 and 19 March. During the festival, in addition to sporting events, gastronomic markets, shows and popular events are also organized a Raviola competition, where whoever wants, brings a Raviola that will be tasted by a jury who will decree the Queen (or King) of Raviola.
The original recipe of Raviola Bolognese with mostarda.
Ingredients
For the short pastry:
500 g flour
200 g of sugar
200 g of butter
grated zest of 1 lemon
10 g of chemical yeast for sweets
2 eggs
1 pinch of salt
For the mustard:
300 g of quinces, almonds, dried plums, cinnamon, a spoonful of mustard seeds, orange zest and lemon juice leave to rest overnight then cook over low heat for four hours in a large steel saucepan with a thick bottom together with the sugar and mustard and half a liter of water. Wait for everything to thicken.
granulated sugar to sprinkle. In, put
little milk to brush the surface
Preparation
Prepare the shortcrust pastry with the flour, sugar, grated lemon peel, baking powder, salt and butter;
Add the eggs and keep mixing everything well; roll out the dough using the flour; make round shapes with the shortcrust pastry; spread the jam on each mold and close like a ravioli. Brush the ravioli with the milk;
Bake for a quarter of an hour at 180°C;
