No. 12: Cicchetti, sort of
"will they ever stop talking about that one time they went to Italy" - you, right now, probably
I have major restaurant-ordering anxiety. If I know I’m going out to eat, I will look up the menu days beforehand (preferably weeks, if I have enough notice) so that I know exactly what I’m going to order well in advance. Don’t even TALK to me if a restaurant is out of something I was planning to get! I’ll just go home!!
Going out to eat is expensive, it’s time-consuming as well as energy-consuming, and it’s always such a gamble if you’re going to try a new place. It’s so disappointing to take a bite of your burger that cost 3 times as much as it would have to make it at home, plus it would have tasted better, and you think to yourself, “Well, I could have made this for 3 times cheaper at home, plus it would have tasted better.” So when it comes to picking your entrée, that’s a lot of pressure! You only get one shot, and if it’s not good, you’ll be stuck eating lackluster food and taking too many fries from the communal fry order and everyone’s starting to give you side eye but they know you don’t like your food and they feel bad but now you feel bad too because you’re eating all the fries and now no one is having a good time. Not ideal.
Enter: cicchetti, which solves all problems.
We enjoyed our first sampling of cicchetti last summer, and let me just say…what a genius, delightful cuisine. Cicchetti (pronounced chi-KEHT-ee) are small side dishes, sort of similar to the concept of Spanish tapas. The term is often associated with round slices of baguette, toasted and topped with a wide variety of ingredients, often including fish and/or vegetables (but other small sides can fall under the cicchetti umbrella). They originated in Venice, which greatly contributes to what makes them so special - they’re often made with fresh seafood, eaten by a canal, and paired with some white wine at 11AM (a practice it seems like everyone in that city just casually does everyday and faces no health problems). Like tapas, the beautiful thing about cicchetti is the sheer number of things you can try - you could order 5 or 6 different pieces to create a full meal.
All that to say, this week’s “recipe” is kind of nonexistent. We were inspired by the idea of having a multitude of varying flavor-packed options in front of you on one singular plate, rather than the anxious agony of having to pick a single food. This is less of a recipe, and more so a list of ingredient suggestions with the encouragement for you to go try and make your own versions. We can’t really claim that any of these are what you would call traditional cicchetti, because we’re not Venetian and we don’t catch our own fish every morning. These ingredients are what we used, but the beauty of these little bites is that they can be adaptable to your pantry and preferences. Do you have a couple spoonfuls of tuna that wouldn’t fit in your sandwich yesterday? Half an apple in the fridge? Some cheese that’s about to go bad but isn’t quite there yet? This one’s for them.
Ingredient Combinations:
(Season with salt and pepper to taste)
Cottage cheese, balsamic vinegar, tomato, oregano
Avocado, pickled onion, anchovies, cilantro
Cream cheese, tuna, balsamic vinegar, parsley, pickled pepper (full disclosure - Conrad didn’t like this one and I didn’t try it, but maybe you will like it so we included it anyway)
Hummus, cashews
Apple, feta, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pickled pepper
Instructions:
Slice a baguette into ½ inch rounds. Toast on both sides in a pan in some olive oil until golden brown, season with salt and pepper, and pair with your choice of toppings.