The Old World Twinkie

The what?

What did we do before the poptart or Twinkie? In the old days, before packages cookies and snack cakes they used what they had on hand. Bread. Having some wonderful Italian bread on hand from yesterday reminded me...

American mornings: a hunk of yesterday's cornbread with some of this mornings warm raw milk (yum)

Italian Mornings: cappuccino or caffelatte with yesterday's wonderful crusty holey bread dunked in it, instantly taking in the flavors of good coffee, milk and sugar (having this as I write)

Giordano Coffees and Espresso Machines

American afternoons: a hunk of bread with a slather of homemade butter and a tiny sprinkle of sugar (such a treat)

Italian Afternoons: that day's bread with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, or with a very small piece of cheese or salame to nibble between bites of bread (found in the grubby fists of little Italians playing outside even today)

Giordano Cappuccino Collectible Cups

Have our taste buds become so sophisticated that we are too good to eat plain, simple, real food anymore?
Back to real food! It's worth the trip back.

Arancini--Little Oranges

No they're not oranges. Just shaped like them. And they're amazing.

Italians don't eat much fast food. They eat faster slow food. Their gas stations on the autostrade have delis that sell sandwiches whose ingredients took from 6 months to 2 years to prepare. Quality aged true prosciuttos and parmesans will never be sold in our fast food factories.

Arancini are the traditional portable food of Sicily. It's the land of oranges and it makes sense that they'd look at these delicacies. They normally are balls of saffron rice filled with a bit of stewed meat, a piece of cheese and a sprinkling of peas. Many varieties are available though and I have to say that I prefer those over the traditional.  In Catania there are hole-in-the-wall shops that specialize in dozens of kinds of just arancini.  Our most recent trip ended there one of the last nights.  We had Pistachio arancini and sugo arancini for dinner, and ended with nutella arancini for dessert! Here are a few of my faves...

Mushroom
Pistachio
Smoked salmon and cream
Butter
Tuna
Sugo (meat sauce)
Spaghetti and tomato sauce
Even nutella and hazelnut

They're not hard to do but they take planning. The easiest way is to have the rice done and the filling done. Maybe through the week save bowls of pasta sauce, meatballs, chopped veggies... Then on arancini day just make rice, assemble and fry.  It's a fun dinner party idea as well...DIY appetizers?

Arancini
4 cups cooked sticky rice, any rice that's barely sticky. Maybe cook your normal rice with a tad extra water.
1 cup filling
1/2 cup parmesan
Seasoned bread crumbs (bought or plain, adding parmesan and italian spices)
1-2 Eggs, beaten, adding a little water.
Oil

Filling can be left over roast, chopped and adding some spaghetti sauce and a little chunk of cheese. Can be garlicky chopped spinach, or mushrooms with a squeeze of lemon and some parsley. Make the filling and set aside.

Fill a small 1 1/2qt sauce pan with frying oil to 1 1/2"-2" deep
Heat on med-hi to hi.  Salt the oil like you'd salt food.

Break up the rice and add a handful of Parmesan. If not sticky enough to squeeze into balls add a little egg or water.

Have a bowl with breadcrumbs, another bowl with beaten egg with a bit of water, and your filling. Make an assembly line.

Put a golf ball size amt of rice in palm. Make a well and add a small spoon of filling. Put another spoon of rice on top and smush well to close. Roll in egg then in breadcrumbs.

Test the oil by dropping a few breadcrumbs in the oil.  They should fry immediately.  Watch your temperature, lowering if the arancini brown really quickly and raising if it takes too long to cook.
I fry three at a time in my pan, turning once. Don't overcook but be sure to brown. Drain on a rack over paper towels. Experiment with size and shape.
My favorite is about 2 1/2" inch size.

Make plenty. Pictured are Arancini with funghi trifolati inside. Chopped mushrooms, sauteed in garlic, butter and olive oil, and at the end add salt, squeeze of lemon, and lots of chopped parsley. SQUISITI, fun, and a great base to play with, adding new ingredients, making tiny ones or sweet ones, even cover an olive with rice and breadcrumbs for neat appetizers...sky's the limit!

Afternoon snack

Thursdays for my Italian classes I like to have a snack. Sometimes we cook. Sometimes we throw things together quickly. Stopping at the grocery on the way I saw some good bread, eggplant on sale and good tomatoes. Pane condito! Aka dressed bread...

Cut a flat type Italian bread (like ciabatta) in half flat-ways so you have two slabs. Dress each with olive oil, crushed oregano, salt and cracked pepper. Bake till crisp.

Meanwhile slice eggplant in rounds about a half finger thickness and cook in a dry skillet, on medium, salting both sides, till soft and well browned. Slice tomatoes fairly thin and set aside.

Dress the toasted bread as follows:
Sliced roasted eggplant
Drizzle fresh lemon juice over
Sliced tomato
Salt tomatoes
Sprinkle with crushed oregano
Drizzle with olive oil
Place thin slices good cheese like provolone or mozzarella on top and broil till toasted.
Now FEAST.

Seriously hard to stop at just a couple of slices... This easy snack is great to use up whatever is in the fridge.  A few slices turkey breast, half a zucchini, part of a red onion, we all have these bits and pieces sitting tucked here and there.  Slice 'em up, drizzle a bit of oil on and stick in the oven.  Who knew they could be so tasty?  Well, the Sicilian did...