Sydney-based writer and chef Bec Vrana Dickinson’s spirited new cookbook Happy Hour Snacks is all about easygoing eats for when you’re drinking (booze or not) at home with your mates. Each of the 80 recipes aims for minimum utensils and minimum ingredients, and is enhanced by a recommended drink pairing.
And these snacks are precisely what you want to put in your mouth when you have a drink in your hand. There’s a recipe for “salami napkins”, for when you’re drinking sangiovese – the cured meat becomes a vehicle for accoutrements like goat’s cheese and olives. “A tomato’s purpose” is a take on Spanish pan con tomate (bread with tomato), with the addition of crispy chilli oil and fish sauce (best eaten with a cucumber mint gimlet). And to go with an amber ale there’s cheesy-mite popcorn: potato crisps and popcorn tossed with Vegemite, butter and pecorino.
This recipe for what Vrana Dickinson calls “bella mortadella” defies definition. It’s a ciabatta loaf halved and topped with a colourful array of ingredients that taste good solo and even better together – burrata, mortadella, provolone and jarred roasted peppers. Vrana Dickinson says it requires a “minor investment” of time, and that it pairs well with a sparkling red.
“The jury is divided and I need you to weigh in: do you prefer your sandwich bread toasted or fresh?” she writes. “I can’t make this decision for you. But I can offer you reasoning. Toasted: you get some crunch, structural integrity and even the chance to fry your bread. Fresh: you get a soft and spongy texture (also a brilliant bite ‘shock absorber’) for maximum flavour absorption.”
You can make this showstopper with either fresh or toasted ciabatta. For extra ease, Vrana Dickinson offers some ingredient substitutions below the recipe.
Bec Vrana Dickinson’s bella mortadella
Makes 10–12 snacks
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 2–3 minutes
Ingredients
200g pitted green olives
200g marinated artichokes
80ml extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 long red chillies, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Bunch of fresh oregano, torn
350g ciabatta loaf
250g mortadella
100g pre-sliced provolone
300g jar roasted peppers
300g burrata, sliced
Rocket, to serve
Parsley leaves, to serve
Basil leaves, to serve
Method
Smash the olives and artichokes by the easiest means (with a mortar and pestle; roughly chop with a knife; power scrunch with your hands – easier than it sounds).
Heat the oil, fennel seeds, chilli, garlic and oregano in a frying pan over a medium–high heat until fragrant and the oregano and chilli are starting to crisp, about 2–3 minutes. Take off the heat and season a little.
Slice the ciabatta in half lengthways, then open like a book. Spread the olive-artichoke smash over each side of the bread. Now layer the mortadella, provolone, peppers and burrata on top as you feel: alternate, do a little bit of each, then go back for more. Up to you.
Top with rocket and herbs. Spoon over the chilli-fennel oil and slice into bite-sized pieces. Bliss.
Ingredient substitutions
Fennel seeds: caraway seeds; anise seeds; cumin seeds
Oregano: rosemary; thyme
Ciabatta: bread of your choice
Provolone: fontina; mozzarella; gouda; havarti; comte
Burrata: mozzarella; bocconcini
This is an edited extract from Happy Hour Snacks by Bec Vrana Dickinson, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally from September 3. Photography by Chris Chen.
