Mary Ann Esposito reconnects with her Sicilian roots when the longest running cooking show in American TV history celebrates its 25th season on the air in August.
Along the way, her fans savor the flavors of regional Italian cooking and a classic American success story.
In the season premiere, the host of “Ciao Italia With Mary Ann Esposito” (www.ciao italia.com) on PBS visits Ellis Island, where both sets of her grandparents first stepped on American soil. She carries the passport that belonged to her paternal grandfather, Rosario Saporito — renamed Roy by an immigration clerk. The family’s Americanization began right there: Both her dad and brother were named Roy, too.
“When they came here they had a lot of hopes and dreams, and very little money and personal possessions,” says Esposito from Ellis Island. “But what they did have was determination and hopes for a better future.”
Esposito, a New Hampshire resident and Boston Herald Fork Lift blogger and contributor, is a living testament to those hopes and dreams.
Each episode of her show is seen by 1.2 million people across 408 PBS affiliates from coast to coast; she’s authored 12 cookbooks (with a 13th on the way); and has outlasted more than two decades of culinary trends and countless here-today-gone-tomorrow celebrity TV chefs.
Eight years ago, she launched the Mary Ann Esposito Foundation (www.ciaoitalia.com/foundation), which provides scholarships to students to study Italian food and culture, and is working to build the Ciao Italia Italian Heritage and Education Resource Center at a major American university.
Esposito has also enjoyed a long marriage to food-and-wine lover Guy Esposito, a fellow second-generation Italian-American and retired orthopedic surgeon.
Their home in the New Hampshire countryside features a large garden and a kitchen that overlooks a lazy, scenic stretch of the Piscataqua River — where she prepared for us Monday one of her summery Sicilian favorites, grilled swordfish with homemade eggplant caponata.
“I really never envisioned I’d be doing this with my life,” said Esposito.
She ran a catering business back in 1989, while studying Italian, when Guy encouraged her to submit a show proposal to the local PBS affiliate.
Esposito’s love of her heritage has fueled the program’s success.
“The French cook by formula, the Italian by intuition,” she said. “That’s the beauty of Italian cooking. You’re not tied down by a lot of rules. It’s happy food. It’s vibrant food.”
But, she says, “there’s no such thing as ‘Italian food.’ It’s regional food with many different styles. I said that in my very first show.”
The region that inspires her most, of course, is her ancestral Sicily.
“This is the history of Sicily right here,” she said, pointing to the grill-marked swordfish topped with dark, chunky, agrodolce (sour-and-sweet) caponata. Swordfish is prominent in Mediterranean waters and eggplant a staple of sun-soaked Sicilian farmland. The caponata, meanwhile, claims Arabic origins, most notably through its use of chocolate — a testament to the blend of Mediterranean cultures on the island.
“My research shows that the word ‘caponata’ itself comes from Arabic,” said Esposito.
There’s another word that indicates her family was destined for food fame in America. Esposito notes Grandpa Rosario’s surname Saporito “is Italian for ‘tasty.’ ”
(Follow Mary Ann Esposito on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mary annesposito.)
Mary Ann Esposito’s Eggplant Caponata
8 eggplants (4 to 5 inches ? long), washed, trimmed, ? cut in 1-inch cubes.
Coarse sea salt
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/4 c. thinly sliced celery ? (about 2 ribs)
1 1/2 c. peanut oil
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
4 onions, thinly sliced ? (3 1/2 c.)
1 c. tomato paste
1 c. green or black olives in ? brine, drained and ? chopped
1/2 c. capers in wine ? vinegar, drained
1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. red wine vinegar
2 t. baking cocoa
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Place eggplant cubes in a colander. Add salt and let eggplant sweat in sink for 1 hour. Rinse and dry. Boil water in a small saucepan. Add celery and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Drain celery, saving water and set both aside. Heat half the peanut oil in a large skillet. Add half the eggplant and fry until softened and lightly browned, about 12 to 15 minutes. Drain eggplant on brown paper, then cook remaining oil and eggplant. Drain and set aside second batch. Heat olive oil in same skillet. Add onions and saute until soft and glazed-looking, about 10 minutes. Lower heat and mix in tomato paste, reserved celery water, olives, capers, sugar, vinegar and cocoa. Mix well and let mixture simmer about 5 minutes. Add reserved eggplant and celery pieces to skillet. Mix well to coat with sauce. Simmer mixture uncovered about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture into jars, cover and refrigerate. Extra jars of caponata can be frozen for use throughout the year. Makes about 9A cups.
Mary Ann Esposito’s Grilled Swordfish
4 6-oz. swordfish steaks, ? about 1 1/2 inches thick
Extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and pepper to ? taste
Juice of 1 large lemon
Preheat grill for 20 minutes on medium-high heat. Brush grill grate with a little olive oil. Grill steaks over direct heat 3 minutes on each side or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Top each steak with 3 heaping tablespoons of caponata. Serves 4.