Feeding A Crowd – Remember The Basics

My Aunt Margaret Mary Pezzolo was a master of feeding a crowd. With seven children, feeding a crowd was a constant. Growing up, Aunt Margaret was the key chef at my grandfather’s place on Candlewood Lake in New Milford Connecticut. The summer crowd there started with Gramp’s 10 grandchildren and regularly totaled around 20 with adults and friends.

How did Aunt Margaret keep this crowd happy? She was a master of the basics:

• Roast Chicken
• Spaghetti and Meatballs
• Meatloaf
• Hamburgers and Hotdogs
• Corn on the Cob (Fresh from Larsen’s farm down the hill from Gramp’s lake house)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Potato Salad
• Green Beans

From a culinary standpoint, my mother Dorothy, was the polar opposite of her sister Margaret Mary. My mom was very adventurous in the kitchen. (Something about apples and trees…) She tried all kinds of cuisines and cookbooks.  If she saw an interesting dish in the New York Times, chances are, it wound up on our table. Aunt Margaret stuck to her basics, and even as a kid, I can remember her explaining that she didn’t believe in the spices that my mother used. And, trust me, the crowd she was feeding never complained about Aunt Margaret Mary’s basics.

Aunt Margaret passed away this week and as the family gathered to celebrate her life, we all remembered her cooking with fondness. Her masterpiece, that became the holiday meal of choice, was her stuffed shells. These stuffed shells were legendary. Here is an irony, Aunt Margaret was allergic to garlic. She was a good German girl that married an Italian, but garlic was verboten in her kitchen. Here is another irony, her oldest son Buddy, married a great Italian girl, Carmel Galante, who is allergic to garlic as well. Actually, most of Carmel’s family on her father’s side was allergic to garlic. It is hard to believe, but great Italian dishes can be made without garlic.

Both of my parents were from Staten Island NY. Growing up, we lived 45 miles north, in White Plains NY. For every major holiday we would load into the car and drive to Staten Island and visit my four Aunt Mary’s. We would visit:

• Aunt Mary – Cullinan,
• Aunt Mary – Johnson
• Aunt Mary – Dingy (Short for dingbat. It was term of affection)
• Aunt Margaret Mary

I grew up thinking everyone had four Aunt Mary’s. If we were lucky, the holiday meal would be at Aunt Margaret Mary’s. Christmas at the Pezzolo’s, was always the best. With seven kids there was always a pile of toys. And of course, there were the stuffed shells.

One culinary secret that Aunt Margaret shared with her sister, was to serve the meal late. My father claimed that my mom planned an hour delay. By the time mom served a meal, everyone was so hungry, that the wall-paper would taste great. Driving through New York City to Christmas dinner at Aunt Margaret’s, my father would start a bet. He would wager that Aunt Margaret says dinner will be at 3, his bet was that it will be 4 pm when we would see the first stuffed shell. We would all laugh and make our bets.

Aunt Margaret would always be the winner. The tradition continued at her funeral. The family all gathered at her house after the wake, and low and behold, the caterer was an hour late. My cousin Robert was apologizing for the delay and we all laughed, Aunt Margaret Mary was making sure we were all so hungry, the wall-paper would have tasted great. She was loved and will be missed.

By the way, when feeding a crowd, remember the basics, and you might want to think about stuffed shells.

PS This is where I should share the recipe for Margaret Mary’s Stuffed Shells, but as of this writing, it appears that her recipe, with irony, went to the grave with her.

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