Pasta e Fagioli for St. Joseph's Day

 

St. Joseph's Day often gets overshadowed by St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. While the people of New Orleans celebrate St. Joseph's Day with a parade and elaborate altars, here in Chicago the day is mostly celebrated quietly by Catholics and Italian-Americans. 

St. Joseph is the patron saint of Sicily. According to legend, Sicilians prayed to St. Joseph for rain during a devastating drought. The rain came and the crops were spared, preventing a widespread famine. Since then, St. Joseph has been honored in gratitude every March 19.    
        One Italian St. Joseph’s Day tradition is creating a “St. Joseph’s table” in a home or church and heaping it full of different types of food offered to the saint in thanksgiving for answered prayers. On the feast day, an “open house” is held and friends, family, and neighbors eat the offerings. According to tradition, no one can be turned away from a St. Joseph’s table.
     My husband has childhood memories of getting fidgety while sitting in church, waiting to go down into the church basement where the kids would receive red-and-white St. Joseph's Day cakes after Mass. I have fond childhood memories of church bake sales for St. Joseph's Day. Well, these were actually combination St. Patrick's Day/St. Joseph's Day bake sales. Some people would wear green in honor of St. Patrick and others would wear red in honor of St. Joseph. This became confusing to me because the resulting color combo ended up reminding me of Christmas. But the one thing everyone could agree on was that it was a good occasion to eat. 
    One simple way I celebrate St. Joseph's Day is by making pasta e fagioli (pronounced something like "pasta fazul"). It's similar to minestrone but instead of the large variety of vegetables found in minestrone it features only celery, carrots, onions, and white beans.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ditalini or macaroni pasta

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 tbsp. chopped parsley

3 lb.  (or 48 oz.) vegetable or chicken broth 

1 14-oz. can of stewed or diced tomatoes

1 14-oz. can of white northern beans

Instructions:

Cook and drain pasta and set aside. Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with the olive oil. Add the garlic and simmer for 1 minute. Add the onion, celery, and carrot and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, beans, and parsley. Let it heat up to boiling and then simmer. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Add in the pasta. 

Pasta e fagioli goes especially well with lightly toasted Italian bread and butter. Mangia!

Sources:

Gina Biancardi, “Celebrating St. Joseph’s Day,” the Italian Cultural Foundation at Casa Belvedere.

Francesca Montillo, “Feast of St. Joseph Tied to the Heart of Italian Traditions and Faith,” Italian Sons and Daughters of America (March 19, 2021).

Kevin Di Camillo, “The Tradition of the Saint Joseph’s Day Table,” National Catholic Register (March 19, 2020), www.ncregister.com/blog/the-tradition-of-the-saint-joseph-s-day-table.