11-03-2025
UE's Italian classes make homemade meatballs & desserts
ENDICOTT, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – The smell of garlic and goodness filled the hallways of Union Endicott High School, as students took a break from learning the Italian language and instead learned traditional cuisine.
UE students are spending this week learning how to prepare several, traditional, Italian dishes, most notably, homemade meatballs.
Italian teacher, Celia Randesi-Temple says for all of the dishes, there's no official recipe, you just have to know when the food looks and feels right.
The class is also making pasta dough from scratch, manicotti, homemade sauce, and desserts like cannoli, ricotta cups and pizzelle cookies.
She says each dish is a family tradition that's been passed on for generations.
'The foundation and the center of the Italian culture is the food and the family and the love that goes into it. So, I'm happy to be able to share it with my students. And a lot of it is all family tied. As I said, the manicotti recipe is from Jane Sbarra's mom. Which, Jane's mom taught my mom, who taught me, and now I'm teaching my daughter,' says Randesi-Temple.
She says the best way to prepare meatballs is with five ingredients, breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, parsley and garlic.
Her classes are doing three days of prepping food, before all coming together and eating on Thursday.
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