FINGER FOOD
Sometimes I am so surprised that in Singapore, the melting pot of food coming from all over the world, I don’t find this food: the Italian Rice Balls, which in my city –Rome- and region take their name as Suppli’ (their probable etymology is from the word “sorpresa”, which means “surprise”) and in Sicily are famous as Arancini or Arancine (depending on the area, it means “little oranges”). Even a famous Italian writer, the Sicilian Andrea Camilleri, named his tales about the Police Detective Commissario Montalbano – which character became famous in the Italian culture thanks to the novels and the series dedicated to him on RAI, RAdiotelevisione Italiana – after this marvelous finger food. Sicily, which gave a big tribute to the whole Italian Cuisine, is also at the origin of many of Italian starters. In the South Asian subcontinent, food is traditionally always eaten with hands. Foods considered street foods are frequently, though not exclusively, finger foods.
This time in fact I introduce some Italian finger food. In Italy (as well as in Spain with tapas, “montados” or “montaditos” and France with “vol au vents”) you can find them so easily in “rosticcerie” or in the “bar”, as well as in restaurants, trattorie and osterie. We use to define it “antipasti” (starters, appetizers or entrée/main course items), by the way, the word itself explains it in English, finger food is whatever you can take with your hand without the need of any cutlery (fork, knife, or spoon), therefore it is just a part of this big Italian family of “antipasti”. And its taste is salty and not sweet, otherwise it would end in the category of pastry.
Nevertheless, finger food is an important part of everyday-life in Italy. You can go to a pizzeria and order the fantastic “olive ascolane”, or “fiori di zucca” (fried pumpkin flower with a refill of hot mozzarella and anchovies), as well as “mozzarelline”, bruschetta, and much other. At the bakery you can choose among scores of pizzette, flavoured toasts, “rustici”, and other flour-based products. In the bar and rosticceria you get crazy with calzone, toasts, grilled vegetables and other food balls (not football, which drives Italian crazy as well)!
There can be different types of finger food; however you can categorize them mostly in five branches. The first one is the raw or treated food itself, like fresh mozzarelline, slices of ham, cheese, cherry tomatoes, fried chips, etc… You eat it as it is. The second type is by using wooden or plastic sticks (“spiedini”) to penetrate through different food such as barbequed meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. A very simple one is the sequence of sausage, cheese, capsicum and pineapple on a simple stick, or little pieces of meat -like Italian arrosticini of Abruzzi- or squid. Others can be ready cooked food, such as chicken drumsticks or wings, spring rolls, fried vegetables, rice balls, panzerotti, schiacciate, crispelle, cartocciate, panelle, croquettes, food nuggets, calzoni, and are often filled with marvelous mozzarella, spinach, ricotta, ham and sauces: therefore the food might be contained also inside some dough, around or rolling on it, or even by leaves, like vine leaves in the Greek dolma. The last two groups share something in common: both have an edible base on which you put the main ingredients or some other combination of food and ready to be served. However, the difference is the base: one group can be done with fresh or raw vegetables/fruits/other (for example pieces of melon with ham on it, or green lettuce or Italian radicchio with mayonnaise and some other topping); while the last group is a cooked/ baked base with some topping on it (example: bruschetta) and can be covered by another “base” (like sandwich or Italian “panino”).
This last one in my opinion is the biggest family of the finger food, without lacking of consideration about all the others I mentioned above. In my Country creativeness spreads from pizzette bases, to bread, tarts, “cialde”, focacce, tortini with “pasta sfoglia” or “pasta brisee”, crackers, salty biscuits, crostini (croutons), piadine, etc…
And of course fantasy goes on with the toppings on these bases: vegetable purees/pastes/dips, like truffles, mushrooms, eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, olives, etc.. ; or pickles or vegetables in oil; fresh vegetables with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, like in most of bruschetta; herbs (sage, rosemary, oregano, chili paddy, pepper, nutmeg, etc…), creamy cheese; sauces and dressings, like mayonnaise, tuna, fish, or meat sauces, combined with caviar, pâté, shrimps, artichokes, capers, olives, etc… The choice is almost a never ending one, as well as for the shape variety. The imprinting of my Country is given by some ingredients: tomato, olive oil, mozzarella, cheese: they will always be among the main ingredients also in the preparation of finger food. Therefore let’s delight with some recipes from Italy containing these ingredients: Italian Rice Balls, Mozzarelle in Carrozza and… Bruschetta!
Italian Rice Balls – Roman Supplì (Supplì al telefono – The sight of the strings dangling from somebody’s half-eaten supplì made someone think of phone lines, and hence the name). There are many versions; some of them propose to cook rice apart with water, butter and some tablespoons of tomato sauce; others to prepare the ingredients as a filling and not as a base for the fried tomato sauce. I present the one in which risotto is cooked into the tomato sauce, yet a simplified version. All of the ingredients are shown as “optional” for a more yummy result.
Serves 4 – Preparation 15 minutes – cooking 45 minutes –frying 20 minutes – A LITTLE EFFORT
300 grams of Italian rice (Avorio, or Arborio or Vialone)
1 litre of water
80 grams of butter and/or Olive oil
1/2 onion (finely chopped)
1 rib of celery (grated)
1 carrot (grated)
125 grams of minced meat (beef)
300 gr of tomato sauce
100 g provatura romana, a buffalo milk cheese similar to mozzarella (mozzarella cheese will do too, cut into small cubes)
Breadcrumbs
Oil for frying the rice balls
Salt, flour
180 g tomatoes (peeled and chopped), 50 g of peas, 50 gr white button mushrooms (chopped) – optional
30 grams of grated parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, beaten – optional
60 g of minced ham, chicken livers, red wine and pepper – optional
Direction
Wash the vegetables. Prepare the sauce: fry the onion, celery, carrot (you can use 40 gr butter in order to increase the flavour) in olive oil at low fire; add the meat and the other optional ingredients (tomatoes, peas, minced ham, and chicken livers). Add the tomato sauce and keep frying for 20 minutes. Add salt, red wine and pepper (optional).
You can put in one plate part of the solid ingredients in order to put them later in the heart of the rice ball together with the mozzarella cheese (optional).
Add the rice and boil it for about 15 minutes, adding some salt, and drain it well. You may need to add some water. Risotto must be al dente. You can add the other optional 40 gr of butter, grits and eggs during the preparation. Cool it down and add some olive oil if necessary.
Make the rice balls: Take some rice and spread it over your left palm. Put in the middle of the ball a bit of the meat sauce (if you took it apart), and one and two cubes of mozzarella (depends on the size of the cube). Shape and cover the filling into the balls with your hands. Beat a couple of eggs into a bowl and prepare another bowl with the crumbled bread.
Coat the rice balls in the flour, and then dip them into the egg mixture and after that cover them with the crumbled bread in the other bowl.
Fry in a pan with hot oil. The crust must look crispy and golden. Wipe excess oil in a paper towel. Serve hot.
Tip: another technique for crumbling the supplì is this: you might prepare a bowl with water, egg, oil, flour, and salt; soak fast the rice ball inside before covering with the crumble bread.
Mozzarella in Carrozza – (Mozzarella in a carriage – The name might be because the mozzarella is somewhere contained between eggy bread and covered by the bread slices, or because in Campania it was shaped with circle bread slices, like wheels). There are many versions; from the simplest to others where the filling might include ham, anchovies, and other.
Serves 4 – Preparation 15 minutes – frying 20 minutes – EASY
8 slices sandwich bread (wholemeal flour better), crusts removed
100 gr mozzarella cheese (dried from liquid, if any), cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup plain dry breadcrumbs
1 large egg, beaten
3 tablespoons whole milk
Salt, preferably kosher
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly ground black pepper, ham slices, anchovies, butter – optional
Direction
Remove the crusts from the bread. Cover 1 slice of the bread with the mozzarella slices, ham slices and/or anchovies (optional) and top with another slice of bread. Carefully slice the sandwiches in half diagonally. Press down around the edge (optional).
On a large piece of wax paper, place the flour on one side, and the breadcrumbs on the other.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the egg, Pecorino (optional), milk, and salt and pepper to taste.
Dredge the sandwich triangles in the flour, cover and shake off any excess. Then dip them into the egg mixture, making sure that the sides are dampened as well. Then coat them in the breadcrumbs, coating the sides too. Let the triangles rest for 5 to 10 minutes, to let the breadcrumbs adhere well.
Heat a medium-size frying pan (large enough to hold all the triangles) over medium-high heat. Add oil to a depth of ¼ to ½ inch. When the oil is hot, add the triangles and fry until the bread has browned, 1 to 1½ minutes. Turn to the other side and fry for another 1 to 1½ minutes (flip them just once in order to avoid the mozzarella to go out). Transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve immediately.
Tip: The bread slices are cut into smaller squares, layered with mozzarella, skewered, then fried—a process that makes a pretty loaf but that also has the problem of absorbing too much oil if not carefully tended. Wipe excess oil in a paper towel. Some versions put together 2 slices of bread instead of 1, thus making a single peace done with 4 slices of bread, and indulge in more ingredients like ham, pecorino, and spices. You can fry them in butter. I noted them all as optional. Loved by children and… adults.
Bruschetta – There are many versions of bruschetta as well, with olives and other vegetables, with pâté or dips. I give you the one I like most.
Serves 4 – Preparation 20 minutes– EASY
2 tomatoes
1 rib of celery
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt, pepper (optional)
Bread (baguette, whole meal); you can prepare your own loaf or focaccia, also supermarket croutons work
Oregano, garlic spread, capers (optional)
Direction
Cut the bread in slices of 1/1,2 cm. Put on a layer and in the stove at a 100C temperature for 8 minutes. Control that the slices become crusty, light golden according to the taste but avoid burning. You can do the same process on a grill pan, especially if you have “pane casareccio” or homemade loaf.
Wash the vegetables. Chop 4 cloves of garlic in very small pieces and put in a bowl with olive oil. Then chop the tomatoes in small pieces and the celery in very small pieces, add them with salt, pepper, oregano, capers (optional). Keep it for 30 minutes in order to strengthen the flavour.
Serve the bread and the vegetable mix bowl with a small plate with the garlic clove. Help yourself by taking a slice of crunchy bread, rub the remaining clove of garlic according to the liking and top some bruschetta sauce on it.
Tip: The recipe is very easy, therefore its result depends on the best ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil and Italian bread, if you can find or prepare it. If you don’t want to rub garlic on the bread, a garlic spread will work. The smaller you chop the ingredients, the more you will have a mixed flavour. If you prefer some ingredient to result, just chop them not too small. The best is if you can prepare the vegetables and keep them in a jar for some time.
