Arancini, Fritters, And Snacks

You might not think of a tuna sandwich as being particularly Italian. However, most Italians, especially those with more demanding jobs, eat out at least once a day and a full meal simply won't work if one has to then head back to the office and be productive. This tuna sandwish is the sort of thing you might find in a trendy downtown eatery.

Arancini di riso are street food of the best kind, delightful golden balls of fried rice with a filling one munches as one strolls, and they are popular throughout Sicily; this particular variation is from Trapani.

In addition to being fine snacks, these golden filled rice balls make excellent antipasti at parties, and if you make several small batches with different fillings they'll work very well with other fried foods as part of a fritto misto (mixed fried foods). Or you may want a lighter meal, and just serve them with a tossed salad.

Tasty Sicilian rice balls stuffed with ham, breaded, and fried until golden.

Rice balls stuffed with shrimp, breadded, and fried until golden. Tasty!

Sicilian rice balls, stuffed with meat sauce, breaded, and fried until golden. Tasty!

Tasty Sicilian rice balls stuffed with mushroom sauce, breaded, and fried until golden.

A quick, tasty snack made by topping an open-faced focaccia; it's perfect in the evening with a beer too.

Being rubbed with garlic and drizzled with oil is one of the nicest things that can happen to sliced bread. Ideal for barbecues too!

Buricche are an Italian Jewish version of a Turkish pastry called Burchitas, and are traditionally enjoyed for Purim. To make them you will need puff pastry, though to avoid breaking the Kosher restrictions on combining diary and meat ingredients, you should -- assuming you are using 2 cups (200 g) of flour -- substitute for the butter with 6 ounces (150 g) of goose or veal grease.

Sicilian potato fritters that closely resemble fritters both Moroccan and Genoese. From my review of Anissa Helou's Mediterranean Street Food

A cheese torte may sound simple, but can be exraordinary.

If you wander the streets of just about any Italian town, you are certain to come across a friggitoria, or frying stand, dispensing snacks to passersby. Some of the specialties will be quite local, but others are by now standard.

Cheese-filled focaccia is a stunning treat, and a perfect antipasto too.

Tasty fried meat and cheese sandwiches that will work nicely as an antipasto or perk up tired appetites.

Fried Mozzarella, or Mozzarella Fritta: The idea of frying a cheese that melts when it gets hot might strike some as strange, but if it's breaded the breading will form a golden crunchy crust, while what's inside will be deliciously creamy. As an added bonus, this is very easy to do. To serve 4:

Salvia Fritta is fried sage, and to be frank, it doesn't look particularly exciting. However, when you pick up a leaf, blowing on it because it's still steaming hot, and bite into it... Oh My.

These fried gnocchi are a tasty antipasto, and, served with a selection of cold cuts (prosciutto and salami, for example), spreadable cheeses such as stracchino, or even a soft cheese along the lines of brie or Toma, and a crisp bottle of dry Lambrusco, also make a dandy mid-afternoon snack.

Isernian Calzoni, or Calzoni Ripieni d'Isernia: A true calzone is a pizza folded over so the topping becomes a filling, and is usually baked. These are smaller and are fried; they'll work nicely as antipasti or party food, and can also be served as a first course.

Focaccia di Recco is a delightfully -- nay, libidinously -- cheesy variation on the focacce you'll find in many parts of Liguria: It's made by extending a thin sheet of dough, dotting it with a creamy cheese, covering everything up and baking it. The result is wonderful, and in the days of carriages the people of Genova used to take day-trips to...

Lentil fritters are street food, the sort of thing one might buy in a friggitoria where they fry things up to order for passers by. They'll also be a very tasty snack or party food, and will work nicely as antipasti or in a platter of mixed fried foods.

In much of Italy a farinata is a thick porridge made with vegetables, broth, and finely ground flour of one sort or another. Liguria's farinata is a bit different: It's made with chick pea flour and enough water to make a fairly liquid batter, and baked in the oven: What emerges is a very tasty chickpea flapjack (for want of a better term) that...

Tasty fritters made with Mortadella and Grana are an excellent antipasto or addition to a platter of fried foods.

These croquettes, which are similar to some varieties of arancini di riso, are an important component of Frienno e Magnanno, the classic Neapolitan fritto misto. They're also excellent as an antipasto, and like their Sicilian cousins make fine snack food. This recipe will serve 6.

Olives are one of the finest nibbling foods there is, and I am always horrified by the number of pits on my plate if olives are among the offerings of an antipasto misto, or mixed antipasto. Here, you won't have that problem.

The bread dough fritters given the poor by Baby Jesus.

Pettole, Apulian Fried Dough Balls, Treats of the Christmas Season

Polenta Fritters Lodigiana Style, or Frittelle di Polenta alla Lodigiana: Polenta Fritters Lodigiana Style, or Frittelle di Polenta alla Lodigiana: This is a specialty of the Lodigiana region in Lombardia, where families pass their specific versions of the recipe from generation to generation.

Fried polenta is a great treat, snacking food of the sort one can go to a friggitoria and buy a cone of -- the frier takes a sheet of yellow butcher's paper, rolls it into a cone, and fills it with squares of polenta. But it's also a nice accompaniment to other fried foods at table, and is a perfect base for toppings of various kinds, at which point the squares become crostini, and are excellent antipasti or party foods. Here they're topped with Gorgonzola.

Polenta, seasoned with lemon zest, sugar, and fried: a traditional snack or breakfast in Mantova.

Polenta with beans, a tasty antipasto, or a nice accompaniment to a roast or stew.

Most meatballs are meat-based. These, instead, are made with cheese, and will work nicely in a quick lunch. They'll also make a nice antipasto or party food.

Puff and Pastry Bag Fritters, or Bombe e Pasta Siringa: This recipe is drawn from The Art of Eating Well (Random House, 1996), my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene, the first truly successful Italian cookbook. Artusi notes that the batter works equally well for puffs and pastry bag fritters. It requires some effort to make, but isn't difficult.

I've recently received a number of requests for arancini di riso -- rice croquettes with ground meat fillings that Sicilians consume as snacks. The idea sounds simple, but they're very tasty.

Roman Style Fried Meat, or Fritto all Romana: This is a recipe from the Art of Eating Well (Random House, 1996), my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene, the first truly successful Italian cookbook. He doesn't say why they're Roman, but they will be quite nice as an antipasto or to perk a failing appetite at mid-meal.

Fried sage is very dry and very crisp -- an appetizer that would occur to few, but will astonish your guests! It also works nicely as a side dish.

Panelle: Street snacks from Palermo: Cindy writes, "Looking for recipe for "Panella" (not sure of spelling). It is like a deep fried flat pancake with a ceci bean flour base. My husband used to eat it on bread like a sandwich on streets of Palermo." It's peasant food in the truest sense of the word, and resemble both the panissa made in Liguria and some of the fritters they make in Tunisia -- proof that in the Mediterranean everybody interacts. Here's a savory version:

Sfincione di San Giovanni: A Sicilian treat that will be very tasty come San Giovanni (June 24), and is certainly worth doing any time of year.

While we're on the subject of zesty foods, Vincent writes, "I've been scouring for recipe for Sicilian sfingiuni, sometimes spelled sfinghi, that bread-like pizza with beaucoup imported anchovies, made with semolina, unbleached flour, and no tomato sauce. Found occasionally in the older Sicilian homes 'way back when but impossible to find a recipe."

Arancini with a mozzarella and ham filling.

Friarelli are medium sized, slender, thin-walled, mild, pale green peppers that work very well when stuffed with a breadcrumb filling and fried

A while back Anthony asked for supplì al telefono. These are Roman fritters, rice balls with a meat-and-cheese filling that's quite stringy when it's hot. The sight of the strings dangling from somebody's half-eaten supplì made someone think of phone lines, and hence the name. No, I am not making this up.

Sweet Panelle: Street snacks from Palermo

A zesty antipasto, crunchy bread sticks with a creamy, cheesy dip.