He received a calling — to the kitchen.
As pastor at Williamsburg’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation Parish, a chaplain to the FDNY and chairman of Emmaus Center, a Catholic arts organization, Jamie Gigantiello is one Monsignor with a complete lot on his plate.
And when he’s not feeding his flock spiritually, he’s whipping up a heavenly pasta primavera and commonly hosting friends at his Williamsburg home — with past guests starting from Rosanna Scotto to late hockey legend Rod “Mr. Ranger” Gilbert to Mayor Eric Adams to former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
But for Gigantiello, cooking is not any mere holy hobby. Before answering a call to the church many years ago, the 59-year-old graduated from the country’s top cooking school.
He then toiled within the kitchens and dining rooms of a few of Latest York’s most elite restaurants and hotels, where he brushed up against Hollywood royalty like Jimmy Cagney and Paul Newman.
And now, the clergy member is adding “cookbook writer” to his already impressive resume.
“The dinner table, and food, has all the time been a source of unity,” Gigantiello told The Post. “These are life’s most vital ingredients: faith, family, friends and food. That’s what I need to emphasize in my ministry as a priest.”
It’s in that spirit he’s written “Breaking Bread,” a charity cookbook out now from Emmaus Press.
Featured in its pages are the Monsignor’s personal recipes — apple-ricotta pancakes being considered one of his favorites — in addition to famed dishes from around Latest York City.
Amongst these: fusilli with sausage and cabbage à la East Harlem institution Rao’s; brick-oven pizza courtesy of Grimaldi’s; and strawberry scones within the kind of legendary Bensonhurst bakery Villabate Alba.
The concept for the book got here from the numerous individuals who have asked for recipes after seeing Gigantiello’s handiwork on his cooking show of the identical name, which airs on each YouTube and Net TV, the local Catholic television station. (A fresh batch of 14 episodes is ready to premiere shortly.)
“They were revamping the channel, because all you used to see were praying hands, and asked me if I’d be willing to do a cooking show where I’d visit different parishes and the people in them,” Gigantiello said of the show’s origins.
Throughout eight seasons, episodes have featured the likes of late Rao’s legend Frank Pellegrino, Rossella Rago of “Cooking With Nonna” fame and chef Lidia Bastianich, who penned the foreword for “Breaking Bread.”
For Gigantiello, the love of cooking got here early.
Growing up in Long Island City, he has vivid memories of life revolving around Italian food.
“My mother cooked, my father cooked and we liked to eat,” he said.
In highschool, he got a job with a caterer who lived across the road — and the gig led to him attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Latest York.
After graduation, he joined the kitchen team on the Carlyle, ultimately working at the long-lasting Upper East Side hotel for 4 years within the early Nineteen Eighties.
“One night they asked if I could assist in the dining room, and from there I went from the back of the home to the front of the Café Carlyle,” he said. “I assume my serving was higher than my cooking skills.”
Along the best way, he wound up serving a who’s who of stars — from an elderly James Cagney, who’d are available along with his nurse, to Pearl Bailey, who one night belted a verse from “Hello Dolly” on her method to her room.
Gigantiello’s favorite story involves Paul Newman.
“He’d are available every Sunday and all the time wanted a salad first,” said the Monsignor. “But he’d also request ingredients like mustard, olive oil and capers, which I’d prepare table-side for him every week — he’d tell me what to do.”
After a few weeks, Gigantiello was interested in Newman’s homemade dressing, long before Newman’s Own became a household name.
“I said, ‘Can I taste it?’ and he agreed and asked what I assumed. I said, ‘I feel you higher stick with acting,’” Gigantiello said, wise-cracking.
Following one other job as a restaurant manager and maître d’ on the InterContinental, the Monsignor’s other interest — the church — eventually won out.
He officially traded pots and pans for pastoral life upon entering the seminary in 1990.
“I even have a novel ability to open a fridge, see what’s there and create something,” he said.
“But mostly I enjoy bringing people together.”
