How do families who grew up around the kitchen table with something always simmering on the stove raise the dead? By summoning the spirit of a loved one in the steam rising from a boiling pot of pasta.
“I make lasagna using my Sicilian grandmother’s homemade sauce,” said Raquel Casalena Cosden, 37, of Ellicott City. “It’s passed down straight from Italy. She was the matriarch, and she died not long ago. It’s my tribute to her.”
Folks who knew them both say that Raquel looks just like Maria Casalena, a Palermo native who landed in the United States in the 1950s with her husband Eliseo, a tailor, and their six children. One of those kids was Raquel’s father, Ronato. The family lived in Baltimore’s Little Italy through the 1970s before moving to Woodlawn.
Like the prototypical American immigrant family in Barry Levinson’s 1990 film “Avalon,” the Casalena clan shared nearly every Sunday meal together while Maria and Eliseo were alive.
As the family grew and assimilated and achieved success — the kids’ table alone at Sunday dinner had more than a dozen cousins sitting together — the Casalenas began to go drift along separate paths. Family forever but no longer together after Mass every week.
“People get what they want in this country, and tradition gets lost,” said Raquel, quoting the price paid by virtually every ethnic group that found its way to America.
“When my grandfather was alive we were mandated to come to family dinner on Sunday. My grandmother and her sister would be running around the kitchen banging pots and pans, and pasta with sauce was always the first course.”
Raquel tries to pass along the stories to her children about “30 people at one big table in the basement, waving their arms and talking loud and eating.”
But how much can 5-year-old Alex and his 3-year-old sister, Annelise, understand, these kids whose father — Geoff Cosden, Mount St. Joseph High School class of 1990 — grew up eating a delicacy known as scrapple?
Better to feed them their great-grandmother’s lasagna — even if Raquel doesn’t can her own tomatoes like the old-timers used to — and hope that the alchemy of stained aprons and faded photographs seeps in with the garlic and the onion.
“I used to think everybody cooked,” said Raquel, who recently bought a stainless steel Prime Pacific pasta maker to leave the boxed noodles behind and better please her grandmother’s ghost. “But I guess they don’t.”
Casalena family lasagna
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 lb. of ground beef (optional)
1/2 lb. of sweet Italian sausage (optional)
1/4 cup of high grade virgin olive oil
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 1/2-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup of red wine
1 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh or dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 cups of “Five Cheese Italian Blend” or shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a large pot, cook sausage and ground beef until well browned.
Drain, and add onion and garlic, cooling until browned.
If not using meat, cook onion and garlic in 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil over medium heat until well browned.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, olive oil and red wine. Season with sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, one tablespoon of pepper. Cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for eight to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, one cup of cheese blend and Parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To assemble: Spread one cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Arrange six noodles lengthwise over sauce. Spread with one half of the cheese mixture. Spoon one cup sauce over cheese layer. Repeat layers, and top with remaining five cheese blend or mozzarella cheese.
Cover with foil: To prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Rafael Alvarez can be reached at [email protected]
Calling all foodies
Got a delicious recipe that is best served with a great family story? Let us know, and be featured on The Examiner’s weekly home entertainment page. E-mail your recipe, story and contact information to Jeni Mann at [email protected]
