The panzarotto is a gourmet product from a fried-food shop, a circle of stuffed pasta, closed on itself to form a crescent moon. The most well-known panzerotto is from Puglia, but it is very different from the Roman one. Our panzerotto is not leavened and therefore it is not soft but crunchy. Less famous but of undoubted succulence.
Panzarotto Roman style
- Preparation time: 60 minutes
- Ingredients for 12 panzarotti
- Difficulty: Average difficult recipe
- Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 115 gr or 1 cup of pastry flour
- 50 gr or 2 oz of lard
- 1 egg
- For the stuffing:
- 50 gr or 2 oz of Cacciotti cheese
- 20 gr or ¾ oz of grated pecorino cheese
- 50 g or 2 oz of prosciutto
- 1/2 egg
- Lard for frying to taste
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Instructions
- Dice the cheese and ham. Add the pecorino and the egg. Salt and pepper and mix well all the ingredients.
- Prepare the dough: Pour the flour on a pastry board, add the lard, and knead well. Add the beaten egg and continue to knead until all the ingredients are well mixed.
- Form a loaf and cover it with cellophane. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for thirty minutes. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin 3 mm or 0 1⁄8 inch thick.
- Cut the circles with a pastry cutter. Put some of the prepared mixture on each disc. Brush the edges of the panzerotti with a little water and close them to form a half-moon shape. Press well the edges with a fork.
- In a pan melt the lard and bring it to 325° F. Dip some panzerotti in boiling oil and fry until golden brown.
- Drain them and leave them on absorbent paper.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- Do not use mozzarella but a sweet Cacciotti. Other cheeses would wet the dough too much and ruin the frying.
- Close the edges of the panzarotti tightly because they tend to open in frying.
- For frying, lard is replaceable with peanut oil.
- Always use a thermometer to measure the oil’s temperature. It is an inexpensive tool and it is useful to prevent the smoke point from overflowing with oil. It is also important to fry a few panzarotti at a time so as not to lower the temperature of the lard too much.
