Pasta di San Giuseppe – St. Joseph’s Day Pasta

St. Joseph’s Day Pasta – by Erin Zieske

March 19th is St. Joseph’s Day, a holiday celebrated in Southern Italy, or in communities of southern Italian Immigrants. Naturally, having the proper food is a huge part of St. Joseph’s Day, with many churches even constructing elaborate St. Joseph’s Day altars full of food. We’ve written previously on the most famous St. Joseph’s Day food – the fried sweet Zeppole – so this year we wanted to introduce another holiday dish – Pasta di San Guiseppe. There are many variations on the recipes – but at its core it is a dish of pasta and breadcrumbs. The pasta dishes made on this day are typically meatless to represent the famines experienced in Sicily. The breadcrumbs represent sawdust, which is symbolic of the profession of St. Joseph, carpentry. Another popular dish for St. Joseph’s Day is Pasta con Sarde (Pasta con Sardi in Sicilian)  – pasta with Sardines [another version here].