di reston
Sous Chef
I was intrigued when, some time ago I read a post about Sompanelli. I was advised to give up as the mystery had'nt been solved, but by then I had decided to try to trace it anyway in my capacity as a linguist. There were a couple of clues - one, the city of Modena, and two, indicators as to how this mysterious snack was made. There was also a line leading nowhere.
I contacted my friends on the Italian cookery newsgroup that I also subscribe to. They were mystified as well, until up came the name 'borlenghe', and then 'zampanelle'. While the two words were different, but, from my experience of 2nd generation expat Italians, I knew that 'Sompanelli' must be an Americanisation of 'Zampanelle', and I knew I was on the right track. Although the American description of the recipe was sketchy, the descriptions matched, and I knew we had hit the jackpot. (I love doing this kind of thing).
Here's the recipe:
For the pancakes:
1kg '00' type flour, 1 whole egg, and salt in the bowl.
light olive oil, and water.
Make the batter combining the above ingredients to give a light batter of a consistency to make a thin batter (like French pancakes). Put the flour, the beaten egg, the salt into a bowl. Add the water bit by bit, to get a light batter which on cooking will be almost transparent. The consistency should be glue-like.
The flavourings:
Peel 2 large cloves of garlic, add a palm full of finely chopped rosemary needles, or use dried rosemary powder, and mix the two to a paste.
Weigh out 250 g of pork belly and mince fine, then add to the rosemary and garlic mix. This is called Pesto alla Modenese.
Cooking the pancakes:
Use a heavy base pancake pan to cook your pancakes. Cook them very thin, almost transparent, then turn and cook the other side, which will take seconds rather than minutes in order to achieve a pliable very thin pancake.
When the pancakes are ready, put them on a hot plate and spread the Pesto Modenese over. The heat of the plate should be sufficient to melt the fats in the Pesto Modenese.
Sprinkle with the Grana Padana cheese, fold into four, and ENJOY.
N.B. Kids in Italy like their Zampanelle with Nutella. Can you imagine that!!
It's amazing how you can find things out just by studying words - but, then, I've always been a wordsmith, more than anything else.
Regards to you all
di reston
Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
I contacted my friends on the Italian cookery newsgroup that I also subscribe to. They were mystified as well, until up came the name 'borlenghe', and then 'zampanelle'. While the two words were different, but, from my experience of 2nd generation expat Italians, I knew that 'Sompanelli' must be an Americanisation of 'Zampanelle', and I knew I was on the right track. Although the American description of the recipe was sketchy, the descriptions matched, and I knew we had hit the jackpot. (I love doing this kind of thing).
Here's the recipe:
For the pancakes:
1kg '00' type flour, 1 whole egg, and salt in the bowl.
light olive oil, and water.
Make the batter combining the above ingredients to give a light batter of a consistency to make a thin batter (like French pancakes). Put the flour, the beaten egg, the salt into a bowl. Add the water bit by bit, to get a light batter which on cooking will be almost transparent. The consistency should be glue-like.
The flavourings:
Peel 2 large cloves of garlic, add a palm full of finely chopped rosemary needles, or use dried rosemary powder, and mix the two to a paste.
Weigh out 250 g of pork belly and mince fine, then add to the rosemary and garlic mix. This is called Pesto alla Modenese.
Cooking the pancakes:
Use a heavy base pancake pan to cook your pancakes. Cook them very thin, almost transparent, then turn and cook the other side, which will take seconds rather than minutes in order to achieve a pliable very thin pancake.
When the pancakes are ready, put them on a hot plate and spread the Pesto Modenese over. The heat of the plate should be sufficient to melt the fats in the Pesto Modenese.
Sprinkle with the Grana Padana cheese, fold into four, and ENJOY.
N.B. Kids in Italy like their Zampanelle with Nutella. Can you imagine that!!
It's amazing how you can find things out just by studying words - but, then, I've always been a wordsmith, more than anything else.
Regards to you all
di reston
Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde