“U Pani Cunzatu“, literally “Seasoned Bread“, is one of the most typical Sicilian “poor meals” among the Sicilian Food Culture. Also called “bread of misfortune” (pane della disgrazia), in the absence of a complete dish, it was enriched with cheap and easy to find toppings. Only the lucky ones allowed the luxury of rubbing a piece of Sardine on to the bread to make it tastier! The recipe evolved over time with the addition of more and more ingredients. It is pretty simple to prepare this at home, what it really makes a difference is the quality of the ingredients!
The recipe can vary from place to place, for example the Aeolian version includes capers, basil leaves, garlic (optional), mozzarella, cherry tomato, dried tomatoes, giant green olives and white vinegar. In this variant the bread is used as a base (so no cover on top!) and is heated for a few minutes in the oven before being seasoned (very similar to the concept of bruschetta!).
Pani Cunzatu
Course: Street foodDifficulty: Easy1
servings10
minutesIngredients
A loaf of bread
Tuma or Primosale cheese, sliced 150gr
Tomatoes 4
Anchovies in olive oil 100gr
EVO Oil
Salt
Pepper
Directions
- Open the loaf with a knife and remove all the crumb inside.
- Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper, then drizzle with some Extra virgin olive oil
- Cut the tomatoes into slices and start putting them on top of loaf’s base.
- Put the cheese on top of the tomatoes.
- Now put the anchovies on top of the cheese, sprinkle with some oregano and close the sandwich!
- We suggest to put the bread in a pre-heated oven just to warm it up a bit!
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