Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Italian Street Food

I'm sure many things come to mind if you imagine Italian street food. Particularly from a food truck. Well, what we imagine probably is nothing like what they serve up in Catania. 
They are sandwich trucks. Behind the counter you see rotisseries with golden chickens, trays of potatoes roasting underneath them, catching all those food juices, ... And a grill for hamburgers and hot dogs. 
They love hotdogs. Theirs don't have all the nastiness that comes to mind when we think of hotdog ingredients. They're so tasty. 
They're split down the middle, grilled,  and lain on a split Italian hard roll. Then you have your choice of toppings. 
Those are behind the glass. Behind the glass are probably twenty different toppings in shiny flat oval shaped plates. You have no idea what they are but it's really interesting watching a 9 year old boy point out all the unusual vegetable and meat toppings he wants on his hotdog. 
The standard though is:
Bread, hotdog, a pile of French fries, a good squirt of mayonnaise, and a good squirt of ketchup. Set in a paper boat, or wrapped in foil, and there you go. Yum. Take a bite with all those things in it. Messy and good. 
Better still is my nephew's favorite: 
Bread, hot dog, mustard, salsa capricciosa (pickled julienne carrots and cabbage in a mayonnaise sauce), whole kernel corn, French fries and sometimes ketchup or barbecue sauce. (Pictured here)
Other toppings (yes, ON the hot dog) include: eggplant Parmesan, tuna sauce, shrimp sauce with baby shrimp, aurora sauce, grilled steak rolls with provolone, and of course lettuce tomato and onion. 
The sky is the limit here. Grab a coke or an aranciata (fizzy orange juice...NOT a Fanta) and you're set for an evening out, maybe by the Mediterranean with the lights shining on the cobblestones. 

1 comment:

  1. I love that you're in Italy you're posting about a hot dog. Love it!

    ReplyDelete