If you have an Italian-American background, your ancestors likely came from southern Italy. If you remember hearing your grandparents or great-grandparents speak, you know they didn’t “speak” Italian, they “sang” it. The Italian phrases that I remember from childhood cannot be distinguished as individual words. They were a stream of indistinguishable sounds, some very musical, some spicy expletives. I remember the phrase “mah’lay-bonz” that I think it meant; “You are a stomach ache.” Similar to this phrase was “doo-zee-jars, “which now, as an adult who speaks Italian, I have come to know that it is a corruption of” Tu sei pozzo “,” You are crazy. “There was also the phrase that was said to babies,” Doo – zee – pee- zhad, “which meant,” You got your diaper wet. “There was also the call” Yes … why-yoh “, which was directed at any young person. I still have no idea what that means. One aspect The most curious of the southern Italian dialect is the way it duplicates consonants at the beginning of words.
The double consonant is characteristic of how southern Italians sing their language. (Wikipedia offers a very interesting look at the Neapolitan dialect.) And here is a word and food from the Amalfi area that offers a perfect example of Neapolitan dialect and food: “ndunderi”. I came across the recipe for ndunderi (doon-der-ee) when I was researching gnocchi and cavatelli. “Ndunderi” was not something he had heard of. Even though these pasta-like gnocchi come from the Naples region, I don’t think this variety of dumpling made it to America. I have never heard the word among Italian-American friends nor have I seen it on the menus of any Italian-American restaurant. In fact, I have never heard of them in Italy.
According to most Italian sites, ndunderi are the oldest form of pasta and are even recognized as such by UNESCO. In Roman times, they were made with ground lighthouse or other grains. The liquid was originally sour milk. Nduderi, as they are known today, in most recipes at least, are made from a combination of semolina and plain white flour. For the liquid, today’s ndunderi use ricotta cheese and eggs. According to an Italian site, “Virtual Sorrento”, the pre-Columbian version of ndunderi were quite large dumplings. They were garnished with various spices and olive oil. With the discovery of America and the introduction of the tomato, the dumpling got smaller and tomato sauce came into play.
In the funny way things happen simultaneously, I watched an episode of David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway, and what’s the standout item, but ndunderi? The significant variation in the recipe he presented was the sauce. David Rocco’s recipe included a lemon-flavored cream sauce. At first this confused me, as it seemed like the lemon juice would curdle the cream. But I thought if I added the lemon juice first to the melted butter and then slowly added the cream, it might work. And he did. Also, as my daughter pointed out, this lemon sauce would be a delight for baked fish and asparagus as well. The ndunderi recipe is at http://www.thefoodtable.com/ndunderi.html