Celebrate St. Joseph's Day With Some Zeppole

Iavarone Bros. Foods was here to teach us how to make special holiday zeppole (fried or baked dough filled with smooth vanilla custard cream and topped with amarena cherries).

St. Joseph's Day falls on Thursday, March 19, this year. St. Joseph is the patron saint of family life, hand labor and carpenters. In Italy, the holiday is celebrated much the same way we celebrate Father's Day.

According to the legend of St. Joseph's feast day, an exceptionally severe drought overtook Sicily. It was said that no rain fell for an extended period of time, no crops would grow and countless people died of famine. The peasants prayed to God for rain, and they also prayed to St. Joseph to intercede with God on their behalf. The people promised that if God caused it to rain and ended the drought, they would continue to have a special feast annually, honoring both God and St. Joseph.

Iavarone Bros. originated in Brooklyn in 1919 as the first "Salciceria", introducing the finest in old world delicacies. Today, we are one of the largest and most highly regarded specialty food companies in the New York area. With four European style marketplaces and one Trattoria cafe, we offer a variety of international and gourmet foods. Our palate pleasing foods include prime meats, freshly caught seafood, abundant fresh produce and imported delicacies from around the world.

Fried Zeppole Sfinge
Ingredients
½ gal. water
2 lb. 4 oz. pastry flour
12 oz. bread flour
8 oz. vegetable oil
pinch of salt
18 eggs

Procedure
1. Combine water and oil.
2. Bring to a boil, then mix in pastry flour, bread flour and salt.
3. Mix well, then let cool.
4. Add the eggs (a couple at a time), mixing batter until perfectly smooth.
Pipe out of a pastry bag to your desired shape.