Sfinciuni: Sicilian Pizza Recipe

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Luca Lazzari

Sous Chef
Joined
Jul 27, 2011
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858
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Nonantola, Modena
I just bought an amusing cookbook: The Sopranos Family Cookbook. Being a big fan of Bobby Bacala and all the made guys, whacking and goomars, I couldn't miss this one.
I tried some recipes from the book, one of them is the Sfinciuni, that is a pizza with a tomato and onion sauce + provolone and breadcrumbs topping; in this post I'll give my modified version of the book's recipe.
I'm not telling you here how to prepare the dough for the pizza, because I cheated: I bought ready-made dough in a local shop... but there's a lot of links for pizza dough in this thread, and this looks like a good link, too, so...
Let's go back to the sfinciuni.
The pizza will be cooked in a 12-inch round pan, but before baking it, you need to make the sauce and prepare the provolone and breadcrumbs.
You need: 1 large onion, sliced - one 400 g can of peeled and chopped Italian tomatoes (by the way, in Italy we use grams, it's 14 ounces) - 1 teaspoon dried oregano - salt and pepper (to taste) - 1/4 cup olive oil - 8 anchovy fillets (or less, if you're not a big fan of the smelly little fish) - 1/2 cup breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup diced provolone.
For the breadcrumbs, I bought some wholemeal breadsticks and crushed them with my precious fingers. For the anchovies, I used some salt anchovies I bought in Liguria a couple of months ago, delicious!

40791-albums372-picture2903.jpg


Let's start! Prepare the breadcrumbs, slice the onion, and dice the provolone. Sauté the onions in olive oil until golden, then add tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper and cook the sauce for 15 minutes; add the anchovies and have them melt quickly in the sauce (the sauce mustn't be too runny, because you'll put it on top of the pizza). Then let the sauce cool.
Preheat the oven (425 °F). Brush the pizza pan with oil (save some oil for later use), then stretch the dough to fit the pan. Make some dents in the dough with your fingers, put half of the sauce on the dough and then bake the pizza for 25 minutes.
Put the rest of the sauce on the pizza, then add the provolone and the breadcrumbs on top, and add the left-over oil. Bake for 5/10 more minutes: you need to melt the cheese. Here is my sfinciuni:

40791-albums372-picture2902.jpg


That's all. I really liked this recipe, but next time I will pump up the anchovies and cheese, maybe I'll add some capers, too, I'm a big fan of capers.

Buon appetito!

PS Many thanks to Gabriella for the pictures
 
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That is a fun cook book! I like the extra information on how people should conduct themselves. I really enjoyed the one about gift giving, using the plain white envelope. Much of it reminds me of the older people in my own family.
 
i have that cookbook, signed by uncle junior!!! (long story)

I love the name for the basic pizza recipe: ah-beetz.
 
i have that cookbook, signed by uncle junior!!! (long story)

I love the name for the basic pizza recipe: ah-beetz.

Ah-beetz is BEAUTIFUL! I particularly like the "Style Tips for Heavy Eaters" by Bobby Bacala.
And I hate you, 'cause of that cookbook signed by Uncle Junior! :LOL:
 
Looks like a tasty recipe and a good book! Will see if our book store has it :)

It is a good book indeed, with 100 good recipes. Some of them are not so "Italian" (Filet Mignon with Red Wine Sauce), or not so "Napulitane" (Risotto with Truffles and Champagne), but this is a cookbook based on a TV show, so I think it's good enough.

Ciao ;)
 
Good looking anchovies.
Looks like you and I have the same barber.

These anchovies are really little queens of the Anchovian Realm, they are true ambassadors of the Republic of Anchoviland, mages of the High Church of Anchovianism.
And about the barber, yesterday I felt like a turkey near Thanksgiving, when my fiancee decided to try my beard-trimming Remington on my poor scalp... But now I'm waaaaay happier than those poor turkeys! :LOL:
 
We use anchovies a lot in Italian cooking. They do not have a fishy taste,but give a dish a nutty flavor. I use it in spaghetti aglio e olio, broccoli e cavatelli and others all the time. The wife doesn't care for it though. Rachael Ray and Lidia and my Mom use them all the time to add body to a dish.
 
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