cicchetti
Venetian cocktail hour snacks

baccalà mantecato on fried polenta

1 lb (500 g) baccalà, salt cod

milk

olive oil

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Soak the baccalà in fresh water for several days changing the water once or twice a day.

Boil the reconstituted fish in water with a few cups of milk for about 20 minutes or until the flesh of the fish is soft and flakes but is not mushy. Remove the fish from the cooking liquid, reserve the liquid.

Let the fish cool, remove the skin and the bones.

Whip the fish in a mixer with the whisk attachment slowly adding a fine stream of a lightly flavored extra virgin olive oil alternating with dribbles of the milky cooking liquid. You are making a thick emulsion, as soon as the mixture takes on a creamy aspect stop adding liquid. Taste for salt. 

Serve on fried polenta or toast.

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spritz 

Ubiquitous cocktail served in bacari throughout Venice and enjoyed at all times of day: prosecco or spumante with Campari (an herbal bitter), Cynar (a bitter made from artichokes) or Select (a Venetian bitter), a splash of fizzy water, a slice of lemon or orange and a few cubes of ice. 

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peperone in saor .. sweet and sour bell peppers

2 red bell peppers

1 onion

salt

olive oil

water

1 Tablespoon sugar

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white wine vinegar (mead vinegar would be nice here too)

Finely slice the onions and cut the peppers into thick strips. Place them into a casserole with olive oil, salt and about 1/3 cup of water. Cook over high heat until the vegetables begin to wilt.

Add sugar and enough vinegar that you can see it on the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until the whole thing reduces to a thick, tangy compote.

Serve on toast, on fried polenta or by itself on a plate.

The original recipe is sarde in saor: whole, fresh sardines are dredged in flour, fried and then warmed together with caramelized, sweet and sour onions cooked with pine nuts and raisins.   

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individual eggplant parmigiane

eggplant

fresh mozzarella

tomato puree

salt

sweet basil

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Slice the eggplant into rounds (leave the skin on) and let it sit in a colander sprinkled with very coarse salt for a couple of hours. After the eggplant has released its brown liquid, rinse the salt off the eggplant and dry it well by pressing it between two dish towels. Fry the eggplant with just enough olive oil until it is soft and cooked through, even letting it get toasty brown. The eggplant will absorb the olive oil like a sponge releasing the oil back into the pan when it nears doneness. When the eggplant is done let it rest on paper towels to remove any excess olive oil.

To avoid the parmigiane getting soggy in the oven  from liquid released by the cheese and tomatoes slice the mozzarella and let is sit on paper towels until it has released all extra whey; if the tomato puree / passata is too liquidy cook it down by letting it bubble slowly until thick.

Top a slice of eggplant with tomato puree, a piece of mozzarella, a leaf of sweet basil and some salt, place another slice of eggplant on top with a bit of mozzarella and a bit more tomato puree.

Bake at 180C/350F for about 15 minutes, the longer it bakes the more the sweetness of both the tomatoes and the eggplant show up.

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polpette di tonno fresco .. fresh tuna fritters

tuna

fresh oregano

salt

vinegar (any good vinegar you have on hand, not balsamic)

flour

egg

fizzy water

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Use sushi grade tuna, bonito or albacore, or any fish you would use for seafood patties or cakes.

Chop the fish into small dice, season with some salt, finely chopped fresh oregano or other herbs and a few drops of vinegar. Mix well, form into small balls, roll in flour and freeze for about 2 hours.

Make thick batter with an egg, some fizzy water and some flour.

Take the tuna polpette from the freezer, pass them through the batter and deep fry in oil heated to 170-180C / 340-350F just until the crust is golden but they are still pink in the middle, about 2-3 minutes.