Saturday, November 24, 2001


thought today i'd make a scilian pizza, the double-crusted sfincione. . .

however i was reminded that this evening my husband's older sister and her husband would be stopping by to spend the night before catching a plane back to south beach. so perhaps is not the day to dust every nook and cranny of the house with flour.

nonetheless, i'll give the recipe. make pizza crust. this takes most of the day, not in working, but in waiting the 4-6 hours for it to rise. this makes two sfincione.

here's the filling:

1 large yellow onion, sliced thin
8 oz. prosciutto crudo, slivered
4 oz. mild, sweet salami, slivered
4 oz mortadella or other salumi of your choice, silvered
4 oz fresh ricotta cheese
6 oz. fontina cheese, shredded
12 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil or rehydrated, chopped
6-8 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/3 c. fresh italian parsley, chopped fine
3 tablespoons fresh oregano, minced
1-3 teaspoons crushed red hot pepper (optional)
1/4 c. olive oil

saute onion in oil until soft and golden, about 10 mins. let cool. combine all other ingredients with the onion in a large bowl. mix very gently. of course you can alter the proportions of the salumi to your own taste, or substitute or own favorite varieties. taste to make sure you've created something pleasing!

preheat your oven and pizza stone for 30 mins at the highest heat your oven can safely produce. (i can get 550 degrees F only out of mine.) divide the dough in somewhat unequal halves. divide each half into half again, so you have four pieces. flour your pizza peel, press out the bottom crust from a smaller part of the dough. pile in half of the filling. carefully press out and fit a larger piece of dough over the top. seal the edges very well together, crimp and seal with water. a leak will be a devastating mess! repeat to make a second scilian pie.

cut a 1-inch slit in the top to allow the steam to escape. brush the top with more olive oil and pop the sfincione in the oven for about 15 mins, until slightly puffy and golden. remove from oven and brush again with garlic or herb-flavored olive oil, if desired. bake the second one.

two pies should serve 4-6, but frankly, i think it's best as an appetizer with something else. i mean, it has so much salumi in it, it would be too much on its own. i'd serve it in small slices with a lot of grilled vegetables or a big bowl of minestrone.

something that i think might be an interesting variation that i will try sometime would be making this a fish pie, with inexpensive coarse white fish, squid, mozzarella, a little tomato sauce. . .you get the picture. using fresh anchovies would be quite traditional in palermo. or heck, just fill the thing up with as much ratatouille and fontina as you have at hand. . .

posted by fortune | 11:05 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments