Pacini Family Cookbook (2020)
Welcome to the Pacini Family cookbook. This collection of recipes honors our family's heritage of Italian cooking passed down from our Nonni. In addition to her traditional recipes, there are a few that my family and I have adapted in our own way.
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| Adina, Aladino, Harry and Wanda 1943 |
Nonni was born Adina Aiazzi on a ranch in Yerington, Nevada in 1915 on December 26. She was the oldest girl in a family of 8 kids, so she was responsible, at an early age, for taking care of the younger children. She learned to cook by using a pinch of this and a pinch of that. If it tasted right, then it was good.
Fast-forward into her 20s: she met and married my Nonno, Aladino Pacini. Al came to the U.S. when he was 17, from Lucca. Actually he was from Capannori, a small town in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany.
Capannori is about 11 miles from Pistoia where Adina’s family was from. I think Al loved her cooking because it was like home.
When my mom, Charlyne, married Adina and Al's son Harry, there was some concern about how Harry was going to survive after moving to California without daily ingestion of Italian pasta or homemade sugo.
So, my mom
spent many hours with Adina learning to cook Italian. Thanks to that
training and my mom’s diligence in writing everything down, we have many
of the recipes in this book.
Over the years, we had many
wonderful meals at Nonni and Nonno's home. For Nonni, the meal needed to
include all our favorites: bistecca, homemade ravioli with hand-rolled
pasta, homemade meat sauce, fried zucchini, salad, and bread.
We hope you enjoy this food as much as we do.
For all the Pacini Family Cookbook Recipes and photos