Delicious Reading: 'Bumping into God in the Kitchen'

Father Dominic Grassi became a priest in 1973. A lifelong Chicagoan, he spent 18 years of his career as the pastor of St. Josephat Parish, where my Aunt Teresa's family attends. He decided to combine stories of food, family and faith along with recipes in "Bumping into God in the Kitchen."

I didn't know about Father Grassi's fourth book until a package arrived from my Aunt Teresa. I had just arrived home from a rough day that had left me pretty discouraged. I opened the padded envelope to discover the book and a note that said, "We had him sign this years ago, but it just surfaced in all the rearranging we've been doing!" I opened the book and found a dedication: "Dear Brooke: May you constantly bump into God in your home. Rev. Dominic Grassi."

Little could he have known that the arrival of this book was like bumping into God at the mailbox. As I read his tales of growing up in a big Italian family in Chicago and his comparisons of his mother's kitchen table to sharing God's love around Jesus' table, I was comforted and refreshed.

This book is divided into "courses": Antipasto, First Course, Second Plate and Dessert. At the beginning of each course, he provides four or five recipes, then tells six or seven stories. It is a delightful combination.

Father Grassi provides mouthwatering descriptions of the labor-intensive pizza, Thanksgiving feasts and "Sunday pasta" his mother prepared, but he relates how he has learned to keep the flavors of these traditions without all the work. He takes some shortcuts and has some fun. For example, he blends the Italian desserts Spumoni (which he asserts isn't really Italian) and Tartufo (which he assures us is authentically Italian). By mixing the chocolate, cherry and pistachio flavors of Spumoni with the chocolate ice cream truffle presentation, he provides an easy and delicious end to a meal. Here it is, just in time for National Ice Cream Month!

Father Grassi's Mock Spumoni

__Ingredients:__

1 pint vanilla ice cream

1 pint cherry ice cream

1 pint chocolate ice cream

1 jar hardening chocolate sauce, such as Magic Shell

1 jar shelled pistachio nuts, crushed

Sprigs of fresh mint

Creme de menthe (optional)

__Directions:__

Using a melon scoop, place a ball of each flavor of ice cream in a bowl.

Cover the ice cream with the chocolate sauce. Before it hardens, sprinkle it with the pistachios.

Place the bowls of ice cream in the freezer until the ice cream is hard. Before serving, place a spring of mint in the center of the ice cream and sprinkle lightly with creme de menthe.

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About Brooke

Brooke Clubbs is a Jackson mom of three, a freelance writer ad a communications instructor.