Leftover brandade? Make croquettes!

Last week I posted the recipe to one of my favorite cod recipes, brandacujùn (a Ligurian shift on brandade) promising to follow it up with a leftover recycling solution.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know how obsessed I am with not letting leftover food go to waste, and how it's traditional to re-employ yesterday's meals. This is such an important part of my Italian culture and upbringing, and it therefore plays a huge role in my cooking.

When I make excess amounts of risotto, in fact, I use the surplus to make Riso al Salto (a rice frittata) or Arancine (fried risotto balls). If remnants of my loaf of wholegrain bread were not all used up to make breadcrumbs, crostini or toast, I can transform them into bread pudding or Pappa al Pomodoro soup. Leftover meat (cooked and raw) goes straight into meatballs, and extra cheese becomes Frico.

Since when I make brandade I end up with lots of leftovers, my son can rely on his favorite snack: brandade croquettes. These are a great antipasto appetizer but can double as a sinful main course.

Leftover brandade, refrigerated
Oil for frying (I use olive oil, but you may prefer something "lighter" like peanut or sunflower oil)
50 g (1/4 cup) breadcrumbs
50 g (1/4 cup) polenta (cornmeal)
100 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp of dried rosemary
1 tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp of dried basil
1-2 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper


Mix the dried herbs, cornmeal and the breadcrumbs, and proceed setting up your dredging station. Prepare three large bowls: one for the beaten egg(s) - quantity depends on how many croquettes you obtain from your leftovers; one with the flour, and one for the flavored breadcrumbs.

Take the leftover brandade out of the fridge and immediately shape into 5-cm (2-inch) bullets or quenelles. Roll them in the flour, quickly dip in the beaten egg, and lastly in the breadcrumbs to coat well. This procedure assures a golden, flavorsome crust and a soft, pillowy filling.

Work quickly with cold ingredients in order to produce a firm, crispier croquette, and fry in small batches – not more than 2-3 at a time – in plenty of hot vegetable oil until uniformly golden (about 3-4 minutes).

Blot on paper towel and serve immediately with aïoli or plain mayonnaise for dipping, if you like. As with all things fried, and in this case fish-based, I would suggest pairing this dish with a sparkling white, like Franciacorta.

Buon appetito!

Fritto di Paranza ~ Fried Whitebait Recipe

We Italians are great fans of fried fish, and little else will bring smiles quicker around the dinner table than a fritto di paranza, a fry of assorted small fish, whose name is inspired by the typical wooden fishing boats used in southern Italy.



In many families, Christmas Eve dinner revolves around a menu of fresh fish. Before placing the babe statuette in the crèche manger, my family and I will be enjoying crisp fritto di paranza, along with other festive foods.

The requirements for awesome fritto di paranza are using absolutely freshly caught wild fish, and good frying skills.
Some confuse this recipe with Frittura Mista, which also may include calamari, shrimp, prawns, cuttlefish, squid and other assorted mollusks and crustaceans. But traditional fritto di paranza is made with 2-inch long (from head to tail) fish, which have been simply rolled in flour, deep fried, and then served with lemon wedges and a raw onion. You smash the onion, and eat crunchy bits of it with the fried pesciolini – heads and all (unless they're a little larger than 3 inches, in which case you may want to remove the heads). Purists frown on cleaning the fish, claiming the intestines provide a slightly sharper flavor. I prefer my paranza fish cleaned, but when the heads are small they're pleasingly crunchy, and the tails serve as perfect handles.

The best choice for paranza is shimmery-skinned pesce azzurro, and in particular, a local variety of whitebait called Latterini – small silvery-white fish. Latterini generally designate other varieties of small newborn fish, but only latterini can be bought without infringing the law, since these are a particular species whose adults never grow beyond their 2-3 inch size, while as far as the other kinds of newborn catch – like immature herring, sprat, sardines, mackerel, and bass – their marketing is illegal.

Common Neapolitan paranza may include, according to season and availability, small codfish, red mullet, little sole fish (in Naples called fricassuàr) and other small species like anchovies, and rock goby.

Fritto di paranza has one more mandatory clause, and that is it must be eaten absolutely piping hot. The Neapolitan expression frijenno magnanno, refers to exactly that, and it translates "frying and eating," implying the fritto should be eaten as it is being fried.

Here's what you'll need to make fritto di paranza to serve 4:

1 kg (2.2 lbs) of assorted tiny, 2-inch sized whitebait
2 cups flour for dredging
Abundant olive oil for frying
2 pinches of sea salt
Several lemons, cut into wedges
1 large white onion, peeled

Wash, clean out and pat the fish dry.

Coat thoroughly with flour, making sure each little fish is well covered. In batches, fry the whitebait for about 3-4 minutes, until crisp and lightly golden. Remove from the bubbling oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towels. Repeat until all the fish are fried.

Season with salt and serve with the lemon wedges and the raw onion shreds.

Keep crusty home-style bread, and one or more chilled bottles of Vermentino in an ice bucket, within close reach.

Image © fingerforkknife.com

Cozze fritte – Fried mussels

Eating piping hot fried mussels from a paper cone, while strolling down the street. You can't make this stuff up, it actually happens in the summer in Taranto, and in other parts of Apulia, the heel of the boot. We are talking street food to the nth degree which employs fresh, local ingredients and pure regional knowledge, applied to daily life.

The fantastically crunchy on the outside, marine salty, sexy and velvety aromatic on the inside cozze fritte are true morsels of foodporn. Not the photographic, shallow depth of field foodie kind: I’m talking about the actual hands on, hard-core, triple-X, foodgasm-inducing mangia; the kind that will have you reminiscing for days, giving you sensual memory-triggered butterflies and shivers.

What was that about shellfish not being aphrodisiac? I dare you to try these, and resists the temptation. You'll look back on oysters like a second grader regards his training wheels.

1 egg + 1 egg white
100 g (3 oz) flour, sifted
500 g (1.1 lb) medium-large mussels (summer’s the right season for these, so get them while you can, northern hemisphere friends!)
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 leek, the white part only and minced
A sprig of fresh thyme, finely chopped
The juice of 1 lemon
1 glass of dry, white wine
180 ml (6 fl oz) lager (don’t use light beer)
Extra virgin olive oil for marinade, plus more for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl, beat and season the egg with a pinch of salt. Beat the egg white separately until peaks form.

Sift the flour and add it with the minced leek, fluffy egg white and the beer to the egg, mixing well. This is your batter. Cover it up with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Wash, brush and clean your mussels, carefully removing the byssus and barnacles from the valves, rinsing them in a salt-water solution, and then draining them well.

Steam the mussels in a large covered pan with chopped shallots, thyme, freshly ground black pepper and the wine, simmering over a vivacious flame to make the valves open, about 4-5 minutes. Discard any that fail to open.

When cool enough to manage with your bare hands, remove the mussels from their shells and marinade them in a bowl with lemon juice, 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large enough frying pan.

When the oil is hot but not smoking, fish your mussels out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and dunk them in the chilled leek-flavored batter.
Plunge them immediately in the boiling hot oil and fry in small batches for a few minutes, or until golden and crisp. The temperature shock from the chilled, airy batter hitting the scalding oil guarantees the best results.

Park briefly on a paper towel and serve hot-hot-hot with a curry or ginger–flavored mayo dip. Conversely, the bottle of sparkling Frenciacorta Satén must be cold-cold-cold.

Images courtesy of buttalapasta.it - corrierecucina

Gluten-free Rome

Please read my 2018 update! 

Not many gluten-free travelers realize that coeliacs exist in Italy too.

The boot-shaped peninsula seems like the last place where you'd enjoy a gluten-free meal, what with all the pasta, pizza, bread, focaccia, salumi and other Italian specialties and staples. But celiacs in Italy can enjoy a large variety of gluten-free foods at every meal.

For example, mornings can have a sunny start with gluten-free croissants (cornetti senza glutine) along with steaming cappuccino. Midday snacks and main meals can include gluten-free panini, gluten-free pasta, gluten-free beer, gluten-free pizza, and even gluten-free gelato, served in a flour-less cone.

gluten: substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, that is responsible for the elastic tissue of dough. A mixture of two proteins, it causes disorders in people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivities.

Prompted by a celiac friend skeptical of traveling to Italy, I did a little research, tried various products and after a number of wheat-less meals, I came up with this little list of gluten-free dining options in Rome.

Baiamonti Lounge Bar - Charming pizzeria, cafe and tavola calda (informal, cafeteria-style) that caters exclusively to celiacs. Via Baiamonti, 12 (Prati) - Tel. +39 0637351954

Hotel Diana Roof Garden - Dine sans wheat on a breathtaking terrace with sweeping views of the Vatican and tiled rooftops. Via Principe Amedeo, 4 (Esquilino) - Tel. +39 06478681

Il Capriccio di Trastevere - This fun trattoria offers a large number of gluten-free options along with their regular menu of Sicilian specialties. Via Roma Libera, 19 (Trastevere) - Tel. +39 065816469

Polenta (slow-cooked cornmeal) is a typical northern Italian staple, and totally gluten-free.

Il Viaggio - Sitting in the pastel rooms of Il Viaggio, celiacs can pick from an impressive list of wheat-less dishes, from antipasto through dessert, and choose between 3 variegated tasting menus. Via Isonzo, 14 (Nomentano) - Tel. +39 0697997043

Insomnia - Great seafood and homemade desserts in this restaurant and pizzeria that has prides in providing numerous gluten-free preparations, including pizza, pasta and fried goodies since 2007. Via Portuense, 469 - Tel. +39 0655389376

Giancarlone al 19 - Giancarlone cooks up some of the city's best homestyle Roman cuisine, with an eye for celiac pizza-lovers. Via Durazzo, 19 (Prati) - Tel. +39 0666014164

'O Masto - Pizzeria in EUR that serves Napoli-style thick crust pizzas, receives daily deliveries of mozzarella di bufala and limoncello from Naples, and coats its ambrosial fritti with celiac-approved breadcrumbs. Largo Salinari, 8/16 (Tre Fontane) - Tel. +39 065413448

Mama! Eat - Appealing joint that serves up a plethora of delicious gluten-free options, including pizza, several pasta dishes, tasty grilled panini, desserts and beer. Via di San Cosimato, 7 (Trastevere) - Tel. +39 065806222

Renovatio | La Soffitta - Home to some of the best gluten-free cuisine in town. Specialties include antipasti, thin crust pizza, Roman pastas classics like carbonara, and homemade desserts. Piazza Risorgimento 46a (Vatican) - Tel. +39 0668892977

Tramvì - Within the compound of the children's museum Explora, celiacs can enjoy palatable dishes in a colorful setting. And free parking in a virtually carless zone. Via Flaminia 82 (Piazza del Popolo) - Tel. +39 0632600432

Universale Caffè - Wheat-less pastries and sweets are served along side freshly brewed espresso and exotic teas, as well as gluten-free appetizers with drinks. The place is located at a stone's throw from Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Via delle Coppelle, 16/a (Pantheon) - Tel. +39 0668392065

Voglia di Pizza - Bakes flour-less pies, served with gluten-free beer, both at deliciously small prices in otherwise costly surroundings. Via dei Giubbonari, 33 (Campo de' Fiori) - Tel. +39 066875293

Beyond the city center:

Agriturismo Santa Anastasia - In the lovely setting of this rustic working farm and B+B minutes away from the center of town, the wood-fired brick oven and grill churn steaks and gluten-free pizzas until late at night. Via Torre Sant'Anastasia, 83 (Ardeatina) - Tel. +39 0671350361 - temporarily closed for renovation (2018)

Al Colle - Besides the delightful wheat-less pizzas, this place rocks a lush garden and a romantic terrace overlooking the Tuscolo winelands. Via di Passolombardo, 212 (Romanina) - Tel +39 067201032

Stella Marina - The special gluten-free menu includes wheat-less ravioli, potato gnocchi, and fettuccine, all dressed with delicious seafood condiments, plus stellar homemade breads, cakes, crostate, tiramisù, and sorbets. Via Nino Taranto, 29 (Acilia) - Tel. +39 0652440215

Favorable facts for celiacs in Italy:

• In Italy celiacs receive a monthly allowance from the government for gluten-free foods.
• By law gluten-free foods must be available to celiacs in schools, hospitals, and public places, like malls and cinemas.
• All pharmacy products are required to indicate the presence of gluten on labels.
• All food labels must indicate the presence of gluten.

Soy–, yeast– and gluten–free "occhi di bue" cookies

Useful resources:

Associazione Italiana Celiachia ~ Italian celiac disease association
Cose dell'Altro Pane ~ Artisan GF products
Celiachiamo.com ~ Intolerance-awareness website, has now opened 2 shops in Rome
Glutenfree Roads ~ GF travel website
Celiacando ~ GF grocery store

Seadas recipe

Seadas, or Sebadas, are traditional cheese filled fritters particular to the island of Sardinia.

They are the region's most famous dessert, but originally seadas were enjoyed as a main course, especially by shepherds.

The recipe for these remarkably original cheese fritter calls for a final drizzle of bittersweet corbezzolo honey. Corbezzolo is Italian for strawberry tree, an evergreen Mediterranean shrub whose flower nectar lends the signature bittersweet flavor to this specific honey.

Corbezzolo ~ Strawberry Tree

The pairing of these salty, crunchy, sweet and melty elements provides very interesting flavor and texture combinations.

Here's the recipe for sensational seadas:

200 g (1 cup) semolina flour
500 g (1.1 lb) all purpose flour
500 g (1.1 lbs) Fiore Sardo or fresh Pecorino (not too aged)
Zest from 2 large organic lemons
250 ml (1 cup) water, warmed
3 tbsp white wine
50 g (1/4 cup) butter, softened (ideally rendered lard)
2 tsp salt
1 egg white
Vegetable oil for frying
Organic corbezzolo honey

Dissolve the salt in the warm water, and in a large bowl, add it to semolina, flour, wine, butter (or lard, if you're using it) and knead well. Final result should be a soft and springy ball of satiny dough. Let it rest covered with a kitchen towel while you prepare the filling.

Blend the grated cheese with the lemon zest. This ingredient is what gives this traditional dish its siganture aroma.

Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin, or with a pasta machine, about 1/8-inch thin. Using a saucer or a cookie cutter, obtain 3-inch discs. Depending on how thin you manage to roll the dough, I'd say you'll come up with about 10-15 discs.

Divvy up 3 tablespoons of the cheese and lemon mixture onto half of your discs.

Wet the outer rim of each prepared disc with some egg white and lay the remaining discs to cover. Crimp down the edges with the tines of a fork or with a crinkled pastry wheel.

Fill a large cast iron skillet with vegetable oil for frying, and heat. Fry 2 seadas at a time until slightly golden. To make the floating pastry pocket puff up, carefully ladle some of the boiling oil on it.

When the first bubbles appear on the surface of the fried dough, remove with a slotted spoon and rest on paper towel to blot.

Warm the corbezzolo honey (I take the metal cap off and nuke the jar in the microwave for 30 seconds), drizzle on the seadas, and serve at once.

Buon appetito.

Mozzarella fritta recipe

Image © PiccanteDolce

Fried food.

I can't get enough of it.

Rome is big on fried things, and my favorite diet sin is ordering fritto misto all'italiana and doing serious damage to my arteries.

I've posted recipes of many of the elements that compose this fabulous deep-fried dish: Mozzarella in Carrozza, Arancini, Panelle, Zucchini blossoms, Olive Ascolane, fried sage leaves and even fried custard.

But there's one component of fritto misto all'italiana that I love above all else, and that's fried mozzarella. A crisp, cunchy golden crust that conceals a hot, melty and milky filling. Just writing about it makes my mouth water.

When I get the craving for some mozzarella fritta there are two things I can do: hop down to the trusted pizzeria next door and get two orders to go; or fry some myself. Here's how I do it.

2 bocconcini of mozzarella di bufala (bocconcini are the 3-inch balls)
2 eggs, beaten
Flour for dredging
Breadcrumbs mixed with a small pinch of polenta (cornmeal)
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt

Beat the eggs in a bowl, and heat oil in a large frying pan. If you are the lucky owner of an electric fryer, I envy you.

Cube the mozzarella and dredge in flour. Then dunk in the egg wash, coat well with breadcrumbs, and fry until golden.

Drain on paper towel, dust with a pinch of salt, and serve immediately.

Delizioso!

Crema fritta recipe

I thought Rome held the record of most varied deep-fried foods. Then I learned about American state fairs.

I found out that in Indiana they like to fry Twinkies, cookie dough, brownies and butter. That in Texas, besides deep frying Coca Cola, it's common to slather fried bacon with chocolate, and eat it on a stick. But the worst was discovering about the Luther Burger: an artery-clogging horror which features a fried black Angus all-beef patty, melted cheese, and two strips of fried bacon, all tucked inside a sliced glazed doughnut. To enhance the sweet-and-savory effect, in some states, the sandwich is served with a side of honey sauce.

For my liver's honor, I felt compelled to retaliate with something more elegant, and still typical of Italy's deep-fry culture.

Fried pastry custard is a Veneto specialty, and standard Carnevale street food. But many other Italian regions fry custard and serve the quirky non-sweet pastry as dessert, or not. Folks in Bologna in fact include it alongside deep fried artichokes, breaded potato croquettes, diced mozzarella, battered cauliflower, julienned zucchini, onion and apple rings, tiny lamb chops, Mortadella cubes, sweetbreads, chicken croquettes, and other selected fried foods in their fritto misto (savory mega-variety fried platter particular to many Italian regions).

Here is the recipe for crema fritta, the way they make it in Verona:

200 g (1 cup) sugar
1 liter (1 quart) whole milk
8 egg yolks
200 g (1 cup) flour, sifted
50 g (1/4 cup) cornflour
Zest from 1 organic lemon
1 packet vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Vegetable oil for frying

For dredging:
4 egg whites
150 g (3/4 cup) breadcrumbs

Put the milk, lemon zest and vanilla in a heavy bottomed pot, and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk together 5 egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornflour. Stir in the seasoned milk in one constant thin stream, stirring with a wire whisk. Move the cream back to the stove and add a pinch of salt; keep the mixture simmering as you gently stir, until it thickens.

Pour the obtained pastry cream in an oven pan lined with plastic wrap, and let it cool completely; during this time it will solidify.

Cut the now rubbery cream in 1-inch diamonds; dip them in the egg whites and dredge with breadcrumbs.

Fry the crema diamonds in piping hot oil a few at a time, turning them until evenly golden and crispy on both sides. Blot briefly on absorbant paper and serve warm.

Crunch.

Olive Ascolane recipe

L'infinito

Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle,

e questa siepe, che da tanta parte

dell'ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.

Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati

spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani

silenzi, e profondissima quïete

io nel pensier mi fingo, ove per poco

il cor non si spaura. E come il vento

odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello

infinito silenzio a questa voce

vo comparando: e mi sovvien l'eterno,

e le morte stagioni, e la presente

e viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questa

immensità s'annega il pensier mio:

e il naufragar m'è dolce in questo mare.

In one of his most appreciated works, the poem L’infinito, Giacomo Leopardi narrates an experience he often has when he sits in "his" secluded place on a Recanati hillside. His eyes cannot reach the horizon, because of a hedge surrounding the site; his thought, instead, is able to imagine spaces without limits. The silence is deep; when a breath of wind comes, this voice sounds like the voice of present time, and by contrast it evokes all times past, and eternity. Giacomo's thoughts drown in new and unknown waters, but il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare, "my drifting shipwrecked in this sea is so sweet."

The Marche region can be defined as a food confederacy: influenced in the north by neighboring Romagna, southerly Abbruzzo and by Umbria, Toscany and Lazio to the west. The region's capital is the mountain-locked city of Ascoli Piceno. And the typical specialty there is Olive Ascolane, known to restore hope to even the rockiest, despondent pessimist.

Stuffed, breaded and fried olives from Ascoli: actual size

A blow to the liver, but incredibly tasty and original: green lightly brined olives that are rolled into perfect balls of ground veal and pork meat, then breaded and deep fried into crisp and tangy bite-size morsels of steaming nirvana. If buying the frozen supermarket kind doesn't appeal to you, assemble:

1 kg (2.2 lbs) green Ascoli olives (large, salted)
1 small onion, minced
1 carrot, minced
1 celery rib, minced
150 g (3/4 cup) lean veal or chicken
150 g (3/4 cup) lean pork
100 g (1/2 cup) prosciutto
A fistful of Pecorino Romano, grated
A fistful of Parmigiano, grated
4 eggs
50 g (1/4 cup) tomato concentrate
400 g (2 cups) breadcrumbs
400 g (2 cups) flour
1/2 glass dry, white wine
Extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Put meats and prosciutto through food processor. Brown the meat mince, onion, celery and carrot in a skillet with the olive oil, adding very little salt and pepper and moistening with the wine. When the wine evaporates, cover and continue cooking until the meat is thoroughly browned, but not dry. In a large mixing bowl, incorporate cooled meat mix and cheeses, a dash of breadcrumbs, nutmeg, tomato and 2 eggs. Combine all by passionately blending with your hands, and cool off from the sensual kneading with a nicely chilled glass of Falerio dei Colli Ascolani.

Remove the pit from the olives. A good way is to carve them away with a sharp paring knife, starting from the top and working your way down, obtaining one single long strip like when peeling an apple. I've seen folks use a cherry pitter, and it works just as well.

Stuff the pitted olive pulp with the meat mixture, rolling each into 1-inch globes. If during the pitting phase some break, you can reconstruct them during stuffing.

First tumble them in the flour, then plunge them in the remaining beaten eggs and finally roll them in the breadcrumbs. Let the orbs rest a little before frying. So after a short nap, heat your vegetable oil in a large frying pan, or better, start the electric fryer (this will avoid the crust from falling off the olives during frying). Drop the balls in the hot oil and deep-fry for a few minutes.

Briefly dry on paper towel and polish off at luciferine temperature.



Planning to visit Ascoli Piceno?

What to see
The Roman Bridge of Solestà, built in the age of Augustus, and almost perfectly preserved. It can be visited inside, which offers rare insight on Roman bridge architecture.
The historical center of the city, built in grey travertino marble, extracted from the surrounding mountains.
The central Renaissance Piazza del Popolo is considered one of the most beautiful in Italy.
The cathedral of Sant'Emidio, period.
The Malatesta Fortress, rising on the site of ancient Roman baths, and reconstructed under Galeotto Malatesta, the lord of Rimini. The fortress was used as a prison until very recent times.
At Castel Trosino, there's an ancient necropolis, that dates back to the 6th century AD.

What to do
On the first Sunday in August, the historical parade for Sant'Emidio, the patron saint of the city. Fifteen-hundred citizens, outfitted in impressive Renaissance costumes, march down the corso to the sound of a steady drum-beat, and several file past on horseback. The parade is followed by a jousting tournament, called Quintana, during which six knights–each one competing for one of the six historical quarters in the city–in turn and armed with heavy lance astride their steed, thunder around a racetrack lunging forward, trying to pummel a cardboard figure of a Saracen warrior, Il Moro.

Image © Massimo Carradori

If you attend the Quintana festival, be prepared for a hot and exciting afternoon. The crowds get wildly involved in the scores of the jousts, cheering for their sestiere, much like the Palio held in Siena twice a year. For an out-of-town visitor however, an hour or two of parade and jousting might be enough, especially if traveling with children. It might be wiser at that point to repair to an air-conditioned room, lots of gelato under a leafy canopy, and plan dinner and more activities for the cool of evening.

Getting there
A rental car is your best bet. From the autostrada A14 (eastern coastal toll highway), take the exit San Benedetto del Tronto. There are easy to follow road signs that direct to the Ascoli city center from there on.

Ascoli Piceno can also be reached by regional trains, which run quite frequently and leave every 30 to 40 minutes, from either San Benedetto del Tronto or Porto d'Ascoli; both are stops on the Adriatic rail line. But be aware that the train station is just outside town, so you'll need to take a taxi to get to the centro. There is also a bus service from San Benedetto del Tronto that leaves from the train station and arrives in the center of Ascoli Piceno.


For more ideas and travel tips in Le Marche, be sure to swing by my friend Valerie who lived in Ascoli for a number of years before moving further south to Basilicata.

Arancini recipe

While forced to cope with capricious skin, summer crushes and wild hormonal hurricanes, my Positano teen posse and I would often sneak into the Buca di Bacco kitchen at 10 a.m. while chefs were just beginning their morning shift, and order dozens to go. We would pack our fried goods and dash off to the pier where someone’s motorboat was always ready to take us out to sea for a swim. Hours later–exhausted after diving competitions, snorkeling, trolling for scorpion fish, messy water polo matches and lazy sunbathing in the silence of a secluded cove–wolfing down our sun-warmed palle di riso was the best part of the day.

In Sicily they're called arancini, and quite a complex architecture of a snack. Pear-shaped and featuring elaborate fillings, the classic breaded and deep fried rice balls the size of a fist, traditionally have meat ragù, mushrooms and stewed peas in their filling. In other parts of Italy, similar flavor bombs–according to geographical area and assorted filling–go by different monikers: supplì (in Rome) are tomato-flavored and bullet shaped croquettes with a heart of mozzarella; arancini di riso are almost always creamy saffron risotto dome-shaped pucks, or round like oranges (the noun arancino means, small orange). Exotic new fillings in the rice mixture may include the likes of chopped porchetta, a pecorino and pepper mix, and even squid ink.

Palle di Riso–childhood lexicon–are the signature piece of Italian Fritto Misto all’Italiana–a sumptuous mixed vegetarian fried platter. Honoring tradition, I still prepare them according to the long-established Buca di Bacco recipe handed down by chef Andrea Ruggiero himself. I serve them along with a sauceboat of hearty homemade tomato sauce, and three in each plate: a meal.


500 g (1.1 lb) Arborio rice
100 g (1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmigiano or aged Provolone
300 g (1 1/2 cups) mozzarella, finely chopped
5 eggs
A packet of saffron, dissolved in 1 fl oz of hot water
Breadcrumbs, toasted
A fistful of polenta (cornmeal)
Flour for dredging
Peanut oil for frying
Salt

Combine the chopped mozzarella and a fistful of the grated cheese, and set aside.

Boil the rice in lots of lightly salted water, until it reaches the al dente stage. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then season it with the remaining cheese, 2 lightly beaten eggs, and the diluted saffron. Mix well and let the thick mixture cool some more.

To make a rice ball, take a heaping tablespoon of rice and flatten it out against the palm of your hand, cupping it to make a hollow. Fill the hollow with a tablespoon of the mozzarella mixture and cover the filling with a little more rice, shaping the ball into an orange. Roll it in flour and repeat the ball-making process, until all the rice is used up.

Beat the remaining 3 eggs, season with a pinch of salt, and dip the balls in them. Combine the cornmeal and breadcrumbs and roll the eggy balls in the mixture, coating them well. Fry the palle in hot oil, until golden. Drain well on a paper towel, and serve them hot with your basic tomato sauce for some serious dipping.

Image © stefaniav

Trivia: The Rome version of arancini is called supplì. These are often referred to as "supplì al telefono" – telephone-style. Do you know why? Because when you bite into a proper supplì, the mozzarella should string out like a telephone chord. The advent of cordless phones has made this old way of saying sadly obsolete.

Panelle recipe

The pancake-thin chickpea flour fritter is a trademark of western Sicilian eating. To savor this dainty fried carb fest at its best, locals eat panelle as a sandwich filler, stacked between two slices of crusty homestyle bread. But no one will frown at you for scoffing them as is, simply sprinkled with salt.

Image © agrodolce.it

Sicilian friggitorie (shops that fry and sell several kinds of food) and street food vendors, cut their panelle in irregular squares. I like to make mine round, but you can shape them however you like, of course.

400 g (2 cups) chickpea flour
1 liter (4 cups) water
3 tablespoons Italian flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt
Peanut oil for frying

An empty soda tin with the ends cut off


Place the chickpea flour, water and salt in a large stewpot over medium heat, and stir until the mixture hardens to porridge-like consistency. Let it cool briefly before pouring it over a flat work surface. Sprinkle some chopped parsley, level the "dough" evenly and let it rest.

Use the bottomless soda can to cut round panelle, and fry them in small batches, in abundant peanut or sunflour seed oil until golden on both sides.

Fish them out and blot the panelle on a paper towel before serving hot with sesame rolls or casareccio bread and chilled dry, white wine.

I love street food, don't you?

Fried sage recipe

Frittura mista – noun; Italian assorted fried platter, similar to Japanese tempura. A mixture of vegetables, herbs, meat, cheese and fish which are dipped in a light batter and quickly deep fried.

In my frittura mista platter–along with crisp morsels of ribbony mozzarella in carrozza, tasty calamari and shrimp fritters, feather-light fried zucchini blossoms, tiny chicken nuggets, a handful of sweet potato French fries, and golden fried artichoke hearts–I always include a batch of deep-fried sage leaves.

The key element in proper frying is the batter. It must be very cold and fluffy, while on the other hand, the frying vegetable oil should be very hot. Quantity is also important, don't spare on the oil, glug glug away. The more the better.

1 cup large sage leaves
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1 glass of beer, chilled or 1 glass of chilled sparkling water (I use either Peroni beer , or San Pellegrino water)
Oil for frying
Sea salt

Wash the leaves under cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel.

In a mixing bowl, blend a glass of chilled sparkling water or beer, flour and a small pinch of salt until fluffy. Blend using a wire whip to mix and tweak quantities in order to obtain the perfect "pastella" (batter). It should runny, not thick. But not watery. Also, don't over-blend. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet, frying pan or a wok. Ideally the correct frying temperature should never be below 180° C (350° F). If you don't have a cooking thermometer (I don't), the best way to tell if the oil is hot enough, is checking to see if the heat has made it less syrupy. It should rather be more on the liquid side. Gently swirl the pan and see: if circle ripples form, the oil is ready for frying. You can also try dropping a droplet of batter in the oil to see if it sizzles.

Dip the leaves one at a time in the chilled batter and deep fry in plenty scalding olive oil in small batches. They will puff up and turn golden quickly, 40-50 seconds on each side. Pick them up with a pair of tongs and briefly park them on paper towel before serving hot, sprinkled with more salt if need be.

Buon appetito!

All images courtesy of Autumn Azure for Home Cook Project