Just the thought of it conjures up bad smells — ferry food! Surviving the swells on the sea is just about all that my stomach can tolerate, and I don’t need the smell of old oil from the Fryolator polluting the air. Taking a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, it doesn’t even enter my mind to eat a single thing from the onboard concession stand.
My answer to the bad food that’s often all that is available while on the road is to make a picnic, usually sandwiches using combinations left over from my childhood like meatball “spuckies” — what we called submarine sandwiches back in the day. Hard boiled eggs are always nice, along with an assortment of fresh fruit, especially the stone fruits like apricots, nectarines or cherries. A calzone of mozzarella and broccoli is easy to whip up with pizza dough that is available at all the markets now. That goes nicely with fresh tomatoes, hot off the vines from the gardens of friends. No need to slice them for a picnic, keeping it rustic with a little bunch of fresh basil and a sprinkle of salt — which you can find for free onboard.
I changed my mind about ferry food on my first voyage to Sicily. After a few hours on the sea with my cousin Mondino, he asked, “Appetito?” Yes, I did have an appetite, I was hungry, but I confessed the fact only reluctantly given that he was suggesting that we try what they called “Cicchetti,” small snacks like tapas, that we could share from the ferry snack bar. Little did I know that I was about to experience first hand the diversity of the island, and be reminded yet again just how seriously Italians take food. He ordered us arancini — rice ball fritters — and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The fun part of the arancini is that they include a little surprise in the center, a stuffing of meat sauce, mozzarella and peas. The ones on the ferry were impeccably prepared, as if from a fine restaurant — in Italy they don’t accept the idea that food should be less based on the situation. All situations call for a great food experience!
After our arancini we tried the eggplant fritters, (supposedly the Arabs who conquered the island in 827 gave Sicily eggplant) followed by caponata, a relish made with eggplant, pine nuts, raisins, olives and capers. “I learn you,” one of my cousins told me, meaning that she would teach me to make it. “Dieci ingredient,” she told me in the blend of Italian and English with which we would communicate. That was easy to understand, even for me with my limited Italian vocabulary.
The rest of my stay was about eating new foods like the roe from the local tuna with homemade angel hair pasta, real homemade orzo, sea urchins, stuffed zucchini flowers and my favorite dessert, cannoli with ricotta from the local farm. In Sicily they use beer cans to wrap and fry the cannoli, the most delicious dessert in the entire world and the largest cannoli you have ever seen, sprinkled on the ends with crushed pistachio nuts. The beer cans reminded me of the ’50s when the girls would use the cans for hair rollers.
My food-obsessed relatives would plan every meal which we prepared together in their outdoor garden under a grape arbor that had a complete kitchen. At breakfast we would discuss when we would make the first gelato run, and at lunch we would discuss what we would prepare for dinner and where we would take our stroll after dinner, followed by more gelato or cannoli. I miss my relatives and I love their attitude about food, life and indulgence.
My cousin Dado died a few years ago and he was the oldest of the Roman relatives. As I’ve explained before, he was held captive at 21, by the Americans on the island of Levanzo, off of Trapani, where we vacationed several times. A 6-year-old boy from the neighborhood visited the prison camp and befriended my cousin. He ran home and told his mother about his new friend. She made a big bowl of macaroni and the next day he brought it to the camp and that was the beginning of a lifelong relationship. The once little boy owned, until recently the pensione on the island which he operated with his wife, who ran the kitchen. I was lucky to spend many hours with her in the kitchen where she shared some wonderful tips with me. Cooking is the language that needs no interpreters.
When I make food that reminds me of another time and place it seems to nourish my soul. Yesterday I mixed leftover rice with a few ingredients and took some leftover sausage and meatballs and used it to stuff some rice balls for a quick and easy version of arancina. They were then breaded and fried and in no time we had a dinner with a green salad, a little panna cotta for dessert — oh, it was a perfect simple summer supper. All you need to remember is “Cook more than you need,” because you can quickly turn the extra ingredients like rice, sauces or meats into whole new dishes.
Just the thought of it conjures up bad smells — ferry food! Surviving the swells on the sea is just about all that my stomach can tolerate, and I don’t need the smell of old oil from the Fryolator polluting the air. Taking a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, it doesn’t even enter my mind to eat a single thing from the onboard concession stand.
My answer to the bad food that’s often all that is available while on the road is to make a picnic, usually sandwiches using combinations left over from my childhood like meatball “spuckies” — what we called submarine sandwiches back in the day. Hard boiled eggs are always nice, along with an assortment of fresh fruit, especially the stone fruits like apricots, nectarines or cherries. A calzone of mozzarella and broccoli is easy to whip up with pizza dough that is available at all the markets now. That goes nicely with fresh tomatoes, hot off the vines from the gardens of friends. No need to slice them for a picnic, keeping it rustic with a little bunch of fresh basil and a sprinkle of salt — which you can find for free onboard.
I changed my mind about ferry food on my first voyage to Sicily. After a few hours on the sea with my cousin Mondino, he asked, “Appetito?” Yes, I did have an appetite, I was hungry, but I confessed the fact only reluctantly given that he was suggesting that we try what they called “Cicchetti,” small snacks like tapas, that we could share from the ferry snack bar. Little did I know that I was about to experience first hand the diversity of the island, and be reminded yet again just how seriously Italians take food. He ordered us arancini — rice ball fritters — and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The fun part of the arancini is that they include a little surprise in the center, a stuffing of meat sauce, mozzarella and peas. The ones on the ferry were impeccably prepared, as if from a fine restaurant — in Italy they don’t accept the idea that food should be less based on the situation. All situations call for a great food experience!
After our arancini we tried the eggplant fritters, (supposedly the Arabs who conquered the island in 827 gave Sicily eggplant) followed by caponata, a relish made with eggplant, pine nuts, raisins, olives and capers. “I learn you,” one of my cousins told me, meaning that she would teach me to make it. “Dieci ingredient,” she told me in the blend of Italian and English with which we would communicate. That was easy to understand, even for me with my limited Italian vocabulary.
The rest of my stay was about eating new foods like the roe from the local tuna with homemade angel hair pasta, real homemade orzo, sea urchins, stuffed zucchini flowers and my favorite dessert, cannoli with ricotta from the local farm. In Sicily they use beer cans to wrap and fry the cannoli, the most delicious dessert in the entire world and the largest cannoli you have ever seen, sprinkled on the ends with crushed pistachio nuts. The beer cans reminded me of the ’50s when the girls would use the cans for hair rollers.
My food-obsessed relatives would plan every meal which we prepared together in their outdoor garden under a grape arbor that had a complete kitchen. At breakfast we would discuss when we would make the first gelato run, and at lunch we would discuss what we would prepare for dinner and where we would take our stroll after dinner, followed by more gelato or cannoli. I miss my relatives and I love their attitude about food, life and indulgence.
My cousin Dado died a few years ago and he was the oldest of the Roman relatives. As I’ve explained before, he was held captive at 21, by the Americans on the island of Levanzo, off of Trapani, where we vacationed several times. A 6-year-old boy from the neighborhood visited the prison camp and befriended my cousin. He ran home and told his mother about his new friend. She made a big bowl of macaroni and the next day he brought it to the camp and that was the beginning of a lifelong relationship. The once little boy owned, until recently the pensione on the island which he operated with his wife, who ran the kitchen. I was lucky to spend many hours with her in the kitchen where she shared some wonderful tips with me. Cooking is the language that needs no interpreters.
When I make food that reminds me of another time and place it seems to nourish my soul. Yesterday I mixed leftover rice with a few ingredients and took some leftover sausage and meatballs and used it to stuff some rice balls for a quick and easy version of arancina. They were then breaded and fried and in no time we had a dinner with a green salad, a little panna cotta for dessert — oh, it was a perfect simple summer supper. All you need to remember is “Cook more than you need,” because you can quickly turn the extra ingredients like rice, sauces or meats into whole new dishes.
ARANCINA
Rice Balls stuffed with mozzarella or meat
The quickest and easiest version of this recipe is to make more arborio rice than you need the next time you make risotto. The arborio is perfect because it is sticky which helps in keeping the balls together. Or just start from scratch and cook a cup and a half of arborio rice.
Saute a small chopped red onion in four tbsp. butter and add to the leftover rice or freshly cooked and cooled rice with a tbsp. chopped basil, a sprinkle of fresh thyme and a half cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
In a bowl, beat three eggs. In another place two cups of breadcrumbs.
If you have cooked sausages, cut them up in medium dice about the size of a nickel. Mozzarella drained and cubed is nice too. Shape the rice into balls about the size of a tangerine and using your thumb press the ball and push in a cube of cheese or sausage and cover the indentation with more rice.
Squeeze the balls with your hands to make sure they are secure and line them up ready to fry in hot oil.
Roll them in the beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs, shaking off any extra.
Heat 2 cups of vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pan until hot.
In small batches fry the balls, turning gently to brown all over and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.
They heat up nicely in the oven if you want to make a large batch.
Rice Balls stuffed with mozzarella or meat
The quickest and easiest version of this recipe is to make more arborio rice than you need the next time you make risotto. The arborio is perfect because it is sticky which helps in keeping the balls together. Or just start from scratch and cook a cup and a half of arborio rice.
Saute a small chopped red onion in four tbsp. butter and add to the leftover rice or freshly cooked and cooled rice with a tbsp. chopped basil, a sprinkle of fresh thyme and a half cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
In a bowl, beat three eggs. In another place two cups of breadcrumbs.
If you have cooked sausages, cut them up in medium dice about the size of a nickel. Mozzarella drained and cubed is nice too. Shape the rice into balls about the size of a tangerine and using your thumb press the ball and push in a cube of cheese or sausage and cover the indentation with more rice.
Squeeze the balls with your hands to make sure they are secure and line them up ready to fry in hot oil.
Roll them in the beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs, shaking off any extra.
Heat 2 cups of vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pan until hot.
In small batches fry the balls, turning gently to brown all over and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.
They heat up nicely in the oven if you want to make a large batch.
