My Sicilian Nonna's Pumpkin Fritters

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Pumpkin Fritters Fra Diavolo

My Grandmother, “Little Nonnie” Maria Giambrone was a true Sicilian from Castel Termini, a little village in the Sicani Mountains. She emigrated to East Haven, Connecticut sometime around 1910. She stood a whole 4 feet ten inches tall. When she arrived in the U.S. she married my big brute of a grandfather, Antonino Orlando. He was from another remote mountain village, Prizzi. I am not positive, but I believe it may have been an arranged marriage. Prizzi and Castel Termini are about 40 KM apart, but traveling that mountainous terrain back in the early 1900’s must have been quite a challenge. Go, donkey, go! Little Nonnie birthed nine kids, seven boys snd two girls. She feed them through the depression and WW II, having her last child, my uncle Bobby, in 1936 when she was 46 years old.

Raising such a large family of mostly burley men drove Little Nonnie to use her Sicilian instincts. She was magically resourceful in the kitchen. When I was a kid I was lucky enough to have enjoyed some of her Piatti Poveri. Ok, so the raccoon cacciatore and eel stew were both was pretty scary, but her mystery soups, thrice cooked casseroles and of course her fried veggies were kids dream food.