Savory Maritozzo: The Appetizer Recipe

Looking for a new appetizer to impress your guests at lunch and dinner? From Rome comes a new style: the savory maritozzo. Tradition has it that these elongated sandwiches in the shape of a small rugby ball are filled with whipped cream (only slightly sweetened and at most with a little vanilla) and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Ideal for breakfast and can become a very enjoyable entrée or an accompaniment for an aperitif if instead of cream they’re filled with delicious variations perfect for a party: meat, fish, or vegetarian.

One of the forerunners of the savory maritozzo was Michelin-starred chef Riccardo Di Giacinto, who offers them in all his restaurants: in the classic version with cream for breakfast at The H'all, and the savory version in Madre's lounge bar at his boutique hotel opened together with All'Oro, and last but not least, at MadeIterrano, the restaurant with terrace and Rinascente sunset bar whose name is a contradiction between the Mediterranean and Made in Italy. It is precisely at the MadeITerraneo counter that the Maritozz'Oro, savory maritozzo of All'Oro's finds its ideal location, for a quick snack between purchases at La Rinascente or to accompany the excellent cocktails over an aperitif at sunset overlooking the Cupolone.

Imagination has no limits and Di Giacinto offers many combinations of maritozzo, from the simplest ones such as anchovies and burrata to the most challenging such as boiled meat and salsa verde. There’s more; chicken salad, broccoli, and sausage, ricotta, pesto, and tomato. For the holidays he gave away his recipe, with three fillings that go well with the opulent dinners and vigils, family lunches, and midnight vigils.

The maritozzo mixture is the same for all the preparations. An idea is to prepare the sandwiches as a single solution and store them away so that they can be made with different fillings based on the type of banquet.

Maritozz’Oro

Makes 10 maritozzi

Ingredients:

4 cups Manitoba flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast 
0.85 cup water
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 egg
1 yolk
5 tbsp seed oil
1 orange, the peel
1 lemon, the peel

Method:

Knead everything together by adding oil and salt last. Leave the dough to rise until it doubles in volume. Form 35 g maritozzi, roll it out in flat, and let it rise until the volume doubles.

Maritozzo with chickpeas, guanciale, and codfish

Ingredients:

For the filling

1 ½ cups dry chickpeas
1 sprig rosemary 
salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds soaked cod (1 kg)
8 cups milk
1 shallot
1 white onion 
2 cloves garlic 
thyme, laurel, marjoram
3 ⅓ cups baked potato (500 gr)
extra virgin olive oil
bacon (or guanciale)

Method:

Soak the chickpeas the day before. The next day cook in plenty of water. Drain and brush with garlic, oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper. When cooked, blend everything until a fairly thick cream is obtained. To prepare the creamed cod, put garlic and herbs in milk, and bring to the boil. Strain the boiling milk directly onto the previously deboned, skinned, and cut cod. Let it cook for 5 minutes and put it in the planetary mixer with the whisk, add the potato still warm and start to whip with evo oil. Add salt if necessary. Fill the maritozzo with the cream of chickpeas, then the creamed codfish, and finally with strips of guanciale browned in a pan until crispy.

Maritozzo with vitello tonnato

Ingredients for the filling:

1 veal steak
1 cup tuna in oil fillets
3 Cantabrian anchovies
1 tbsp desalinated capers
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
Peanut seed oil
Tabasco
Worcester Sauce

Method:

Blanch the veal steak in a pan, season with salt and pepper, bake with the probe, and heat the center at 65°. Cool, slice, and add to the sauce. Prepare a classic mayonnaise to which you can then add all the other ingredients. Blend until smooth and homogeneous and stuff the maritozzi.

Maritozzo with eggplant parmigiana

Ingredients for the filling:

4 cups eggplant (1 kg)
2 cups parmesan
½ bunch basil 
1 cup mozzarella
1 ⅓ tomato sauce (300 gr)
Seed oil for frying
salt

Method:

Peel the eggplants, cut them into cubes 1cm×1cm, and salt them overnight. Fry the eggplants in plenty of seed oil and dry them properly. Cut the mozzarella and drain slightly. Add the eggplant, mozzarella, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and basil cut into julienne and stuff the maritozzo.