What's in a Nickname?

In my Italian-American family, we had nicknames for everyone and everything. Because we all lived in such close proximity to family members, I guess outsiders needed to know which kid belonged to which parent. Traditionally, the first-born son or daughter was to be named after his paternal grandparent; the second-born, after his maternal grandparent. So be it that my Dad, Vito, a second-born son was named after his mother’s father. Due to the fact that Vito Rinaldi is such a common name, my Dad became Vito "Shape" and I, Vito Shape’s daughter. I asked him why he was called Vito Shape and he said because his friends thought he had “mare” legs; legs shaped like a woman’s. Since we had such a tremendously large family, I guess they ran out of surnames or tags like “little” and “big” by then and started using animal parts to end all the confusion of who belonged to whom.

We had nicknames for food too. I guess some of the names of certain recipes got lost in the translation or just got Americanized as my second generation of family members did not speak or understand much Italian; except for the curses. We all know how to curse in Italian

In keeping with the theme of nicknaming things, depending upon which family member you asked for a stuffed squid recipe; you would get several different recipe headings. Some called the dish, stuffed calamari, others said, “Oh, you mean my recipe for Airships.” Gramma Rinaldi called them Devil Fish. Millie “Mock,” the next door neighbor, referred to the recipe as Calamari Ripieni. Aunt Carmel said ripieni meant filling or stuffing.

Again, trying to write down a family recipe is almost as confusing as its name. It sure is a lot easier to write down the recipe as you are watching the cook to approximate the measurements. Here goes:

Stuffed Squid

Filling:
White Bread Crumbs (use as much as you want and use “day old” bread)
4- Cloves Fresh Minced Garlic
Chopped Squid Tentacles
6-Anchovies
Parsley
Enough oil for dampness
Thoroughly clean about 5lbs. of squid. Remove tentacles. Stuff the squid. (Do not over stuff because the filling will swell while baking.) Line up stuffed squid in a 13x9 pan. Drizzle plenty of olive oil over top of squid. Bake in a 350◦ oven until done! My test for doneness is when they start to break open and the filling is steamy, approximately 40 minutes.

Any extra stuffing was used to stuff hot or mild cherry peppers. Nothing gets wasted in our family.