ARTFUL ARANCINI

In Italy domiciliari, or house arrest, is often used for minor crimes and sometimes for prisoners who are nearing the end of their sentences or are too ill to remain in a correctional facility. This punishment is very strict and over the years on this blog, I have sometimes written about the comical occasions when offenders undergoing it have run away because they can no longer stand being shut up with their family, or have even gone to the police station begging for rearrest. One wonders how they fared in lockdown.

However, the offender who takes the biscuit - or rather, the riceball - is the young man from Catania who this week evaded house arrest to buy a tray of arancini. I must admit, the arancini of Catania are very good, and anyone who has ever experienced the aroma of freshly made Sicilian arancini wafting towards them from a nearby rosticceria will feel some empathy towards this man. Apparently an offender under house arrest can obtain permission to attend an urgent medical or dental appointment and this is what the young man had done. However, it was not the first time he had told police he was going to the dentist and they had become suspicious. After checking with his dental surgery and finding that he had never been there during his house arrest, the police waited outside his home, and soon along he came, already eating one of the steaming arancini from the trayful he had just purchased.

Whether the carabinieri confiscated the whole trayful is not known.

  

JIMJAMS IN CATANIA

Images: Lorenzo Fragola on facebook

The city of Catania was one of the 24 chosen by McDonald's to participate in their "World's Biggest Breakfast" event on Tuesday and everyone who attended thought it was the cat's pyjamas, according to reports. This was especially so when Lorenzo Fragola, the catanese singer who won Italy's X Factor in December, appeared and sang in his very cute pyjamas.

The breakfast event took a different form in each of the cities, in order to appeal to the various cultures involved, and the Catania restaurant decided to turn it into a pyjama party - perhaps because the country produces such stylish nightwear. Anyone who turned up in decent, unscruffy pyjamas got a free brioche and hot drink, plus the opportunity to enjoy young Mr Fragola's music.

The twitter hashtag for the worldwide event was #imlovinit24 and, at the risk of being a spoilsport, I'd just like to put in a plea on behalf of English language teachers here: it's the devil of a job getting students to remember that certain verbs, including those that denote likes and dislikes, are not usually used in the present continuous and the "I'm lovin' it" campaign has not helped us! Yes, I know that the language is constantly changing and that the form is likely to become widely accepted in the not too distant future but for the purposes of most exams, it is not acceptable yet!

SOMETIMES....

Sometimes, when you have had a long, hard day and want to watch a long but rewarding programme like Masterchef Italia or Sanremo, or are looking forward, as I am this evening, to watching Beppe Fiorello playing the great singer Domenico Modugno [of Volare fame] in a Rai mini-series, you need good, fast food.  That's when the local butcher comes up trumps:

 Now, here's a golden oldie that I first heard in Italy over 40 years ago. It was the B-side of Anthony Quinn's record [for such was the terminology then] I Love You, You Love Me. Those were the days!

SICILY, USA?

So anxious are certain Italian politicians to rid themselves of what they regard as the "burden" of the South that one of their number, Mario Borghezio of the Lega Nord,  has suggested that Sicily and Campania be sold to the USA.  The idea that Sicily might become a US state dates back at least to the end of World War 11 and the era of Salvatore Giuliano so its resurgence in another unsettled period is hardly a surprise.  But let's take a light-hearted look at what the idea could mean in practice:

As far as I know, no one, this time round, has asked the Americans if they want to buy but their arrival might speed up transactions at the post office.  On second thoughts, the narrow street that is home to the Modica Sorda post office is far too narrow for all the indigenous cars whose drivers insist on entering it so I can't quite see Cadillacs managing the parking. Most of Modica's streets would have to be widened, in fact, and I think the Modicani would be accommodating about this, understanding as they do the necessity of driving wherever they want to go.

The only time when it is permitted not to drive is during the passeggiata, which takes place after work but before dinner on weekdays and any time after siesta until dinner time on Sundays.  This is when men and women parade in their finery along a set route and when you reach the end of the street or promenade you turn around and walk its whole length again.  It is also where boy meets girl, man courts woman, local gossip is exchanged and fashion trends are set.  It is essential, ladies, to throw on as much bling as possible and the men will blend in once they get used to wearing trainers with suits.  [The trainers, by the way, must be by Gucci.]

But we are jumping ahead, for our happy band of American administrators will need to take a siesta after all that driving and competing for parking spaces, followed by lunch. When they wake up, it will not be time for dinner, as at home, but to head back to the office for a few hours.  Then, having fulfilled their passeggiata duties and survived until the earliest possible hour at which a Sicilian might consider dining - at around 8.30 pm - they may be relieved to know that Sicily does have its own fast food in the form of focacce and arancini.  [Modica even saw off a McDonald's a few years ago so it is better not to mention Big Macs here.]

Pizza, though, is definitely not fast food and should you decide to go out for one you will have to show pazienza while it is cooked in a traditional, stone oven.  It will occur to no one to offer you an aperitvo during this considerable wait so you will have to do what the locals do and order a plate of chips to fill both the time and your stomach.  You are expected to consume one whole pizza each, not between you but don't worry because when it comes it will be so delicious that you will have no difficulty.

Afterwards you will take another passeggiata as you move on to a bar known for its pastries and you might even get to bed at around 1 am or later on Saturdays.  Oh yes, the pace of life might be slower but believe me, you will need all your energy!

Talking of the pace of life, the pace of Italian bureaucracy, as everybody knows, is even slower. No sale has been agreed and I think that, in Sicily, we 'll be happily staying exactly as we are.

A WELCOME REOPENING

Our local rosticceria has reopened after a month's holiday and it is so good to catch the aroma of freshly made arancini wafting along the street again.

Look what a nice trayful of focacce, arancini, traditional soft, Modican pizza and pasticcio you can get for €7.80 - just right to share with a friend for supper:

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE FOCACCIA...

There's nothing like focaccia on a cold evening, especially when it has come straight out of a wood-fired oven, has a crunchy crust and you cut it to reveal perfectly formed layers of the lightest bread pastry, with a filling of tomatoes and onion ready to ooze out....

MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - "FOOD"

It's Friday night and time for my friend mountaingirl's Photo Challenge. This week's theme is "food" and that's a gift to someone like me! On a cold, rainy night in Sicily it's hard to walk past a local café where they are cooking arancini and focacce, so I didn't. They do one of my favourite focaccia fillings, tomato and aubergine:

FOODIE FRIDAY - ARANCINI

I'm late with this, too, but I persist in my logic that it's still Friday somewhere!

Arancini [rice balls, sometimes pyramids] or arancine if you live in Palermo or Agrigento are Sicilian fast food and most Sicilians buy them. There is nothing like the aroma of some of these cooking as you pass a salumeria or rosticceria. I do know one or two people who make them, however, and the other day I felt ashamed to have been in Sicily for four years without putting myself through this procedure, though I have made them in the UK. If your idea of a relaxed afternoon is to make the hell of a mess in your kitchen, this recipe is for you! I should warn you that my arancini are not perfectly formed like the ones you can buy, but they taste just fine! You should make the ragù in advance [I make it and freeze in small quantities] and your risotto a couple of hours before you want to start forming the arancini. Otherwise it will all prove too much and you will get burnt hands into the bargain. Cook your peas a couple of hours before, too. Oh, I knew there was something else: you shouldn't mix metric and imperial measures in a recipe but I have because it's what I do.

Here we go, then. These quantities will make about 8 large arancini:

Small quantity of ragù which you have already made [there's a recipe here]
Small quantity of cooked peas
3 tablesp olive oil
600 gr arborio or other risotto rice - it must be risotto rice!
sachet of saffron powder
seasalt and freshly ground black pepper
just over 1 pint hot water for the risotto
100 gr mozzarella, chopped small
about 2 tablesp flour and water to mix to a loose paste
packet pane grattato or about 8 oz very fine breadcrumbs
groundnut or sunflower oil for deep frying

Make a saffron risotto: heat the olive oil, then add a little of the rice and stir around. When it takes on a little colour, add the rest with the saffron powder, seasalt and freshly ground black pepper and stir well. Lower the heat to simmer and quickly add about one third of the water. Stir until absorbed, then add another third and repeat the process. Add the last third of the water and stir again. Let the rice absorb this. The risotto is ready when the grains look considerably larger and are al dente. [On my hob this takes under 10 mins.] Let the risotto cool completely.



Ready? OK, stir the peas into the ragù. Add about half a pint cold water to the flour and stir. Put the containers of risotto, ragù and peas, mozzarella, flour paste and breadcrumbs on a table:



Now, Sicilian women have a technique of forming a ball of rice, then making a hole in it, spooning in the ragù and cheese and then closing the hole, but I am not that dextrous. Sicilians, look away now! I just dollop some risotto onto the palm of my hand, slap some ragù onto that, add some mozzarella and dollop some more risotto on top of that. Then I form the ball as best I can. Have fun! Next you need to dip the balls into the flour paste to coat them all over and then roll them in the breadcrumbs. Everything will get terribly mucky but it will be worth it! When all the balls are ready, put the groundnut or sunflower oil into a large pan [I use a wok], heat it and fry the balls. Please take care! When they are browned use a slotted spoon to lift them out onto a plate lined with kitchen paper. Serve hot, with a salad if you like. Sicilians, look away again! I nearly forgot to say that these are perfectly OK warmed up. Buon appetito.

FOODIE FRIDAY

I needed a fast supper tonight so what better than a chunk of freshly made schiacciata [focaccia] bread from a local baker and these little squares of minced meat topped with salame and cheese from the butcher along the street? Added a little of the chicken and artichoke salad I made yesterday, put a little bowl of olives on the side and Roberto's your uncle!

A QUICK LUNCH

Found these canestrelli [little baskets] of minced pork, mozzarella, grana cheese, spinach and olives, all wrapped in bacon, in the butcher's today.

SOME SICILIAN FAST FOOD

It's a while since I've shown you any of this and there are one or two items here which I haven't featured before.

There's always a good variety of freshly prepared fast food in the larger supermarkets from about 11 am onwards, including mouthwatering pizze, arancini [rice balls or cones, both large and small] pollo allo spiedo [spit-roasted chicken] and various breads.

As I can never resist the aroma of arancini, today I came back with a container of mini ones, plus potato crochette, which I can't resist either, alette di pollo al forno [roast chicken wings] and a girella agli spinaci [spinach "whirly bread"]. Don't worry! I didn't eat it all this lunchtime and this sort of food reheats well.

Now here's an interesting linguistic detail about arancini: sometimes the word is spelt arancini [masculine plural] and sometimes arancine [feminine plural]. Even my friends here don't know why and some of them are mother-tongue teachers of Italian. Logic would lead you to suppose that the correct form is arancine, as the -ino/a suffix means "little" and the word is a diminutive form of arancia [orange] which is feminine. Anyway, by chance this week I came across an article which states that the feminine form is only used in Palermo and Agrigento, with the masculine form being used everywhere else in Sicily. I bet you've always wanted to know that, haven't you? [This linguist has, anyway!]