Dear C – I went to Palermo in May to visit S., my long-time friend. This isn’t how we met, but some of my initial recollections of S. are swimming in a pool with her. An open air pool ringed with caryatids.

Over many years, we go out – for a walk or a run or a hike or a swim – and we come back for a meal. I suppose it’s not exactly right to say we’ve cooked together for 20 years. We’ve cooked for each other or perhaps, more true, S. has cooked for me. Or I have eaten food she cooked for others.

I remember scones that she made for her boyfriend at the time and left with a sweet note in an arcane language before we went running up a long hill. And then I got to enjoy them after – the scones. I’m not sure how well I remember them, really, but I remember a clean crumble and a warmth and something like currants.

S’s talent – oh just one of many – is creating marvelous dishes out of no effort. Or apparently. A kind of hosting I can only dream to emulate. She favors canned beans, tinned fish, pancetta, good bread, olives, herbs, greens. Salt.

A hosting that is an antidote to the effortful and imposing version I was raised with. That’s another story.

I recently hosted a dinner party – the invitation to return the favor after being hosted so many times was so pointed. I can’t blame them. I’m still recovering, though.

I made whipped feta, and hummus inspired by this recipe. I do follow their tip to whip the tahini and lemon first but the skinning of the chickpeas – that’s a no. Although let’s be honest I did sit there and skin some of the chickpeas after I soaked and boiled them from scratch. A kind of procrastination. I made this – now that I think I may have found a responsible source of shrimp from Imperfect Foods. It is a fantastic recipe – simple and savory and crowd pleasing. And I made a mangled version of a Sicilian street skewer, mangia bevi. Bacon isn’t the same as pancetta – which is what the Sicilians use. But pancetta is wildly expensive here and isn’t easily found in these lovely long strips. I went for pancetta but wonder how bacon might do….

Anyway – after this dinner party many thing languished, cramped in the fridge. I felt like I was gagging from eating grilled vegetables. And then I left to house sit. And I’m keeping it simple.

I have a troubled relationship with risotto – I love it but as anxiously as I follow instructions on how to make it it never turns out toothsome and velvety as I expect. The texture of the rice is inevitably either under or over done. My best results have been from Instant Pot risotto. A comfort food game changer. But it does take the meditative process out of the equation.

One of Palermo’s street foods is a stuffed risotto ball – a kind of risotto dumpling. And also they are loud and proud there that “L’arancina e fimmina”. Since the word is from “arancia” so it makes sense, but the feminine “arancina” is unique to western Sicily. Notwithstanding my love of the femina, I wasn’t impressed by the arancina as foodstuff until I needed emergency hiking food, and then my respect for the arancina’s staying power was um – cemented.

Here in the treehouse I’m sitting in, I made two lovely risottos in a row. The first – I used leftover pancetta as the base fat and then I made a huge batch of pesto from very wilted whole plant spinach and big green garlic stalks that had been lying around for a while that I mixed in. I did have plenty of olive oil and grated parm so the risotto result was rich and restaurant style.

And I followed up with a caution to the wind “cucina povera” version where I washed out the pesto from the Cuisinart and some schmaltz from the bottom of a tupperware of penne in chicken broth, blitzed a big bunch of herbs about to end up in the compost (basil, mint, parsley) and a bean soup that I defrosted. I threw all these in – using the bean soup and the rinsed out schmaltz and pesto as broth. Oh yes – I started with a leek base, I had a bunch of chopped languishing leeks (overdo from the shrimp recipe). And I didn’t have parm / pecorino to grate into it but I did have a fat parmesan rind to cook it with. The rice came out the most perfect texture. And I’m snarfing the softened rind.

L’arancina e femina!

xoxo

With love – M.

PS Here’s a playlist you might enjoy. I wanted to share a different one but Spotify doesn’t have the iconic Pansy Division song Male Model so it was ruined RUINED. XOXO