My first attempt with Sfincione – Diary of a Sicilian girl in London
Sfincione is a typical dish from the Sicilian Street Food: you can buy it almost everywhere. If you live abroad it means as well that you’ll not be able to easily find some typical food from your country, but this doesn’t actually means that you can’t make them yourself, and so today I made my first Sfincione in London!
DOUGH
I admit it, making the dough for the first time was a special experience, in fact I had thought of a different title for this article, something like “My first Sfincione: how to make a mess in your kitchen.” Flour on your clothes, on the floor, the dough that sticks in between your fingers at the beginning and you do not know how to take the other ingredients without making a mess with anything you touch (Tip: Turn off your cellphones, tell your friends not to call you, cook with a friend or pay the neighbor to help you!). At the beginning I was desperate, the dough was not homogeneous and it had no human shape, I even thought of throwing it and making a new one, but then mixing up all the ingredients (especially playing between water and flour) it started to become pretty (tip: keep mixing, use your strength!). I became mum of a dough! After covering it and putting it in a safe place I started to pray for it to rise!
If you want to have a look at the recipe and give it a go, follow this link!
TOPPING (Original VS. Alternative)
While the first part was kind of difficult (mainly for the mess!), cooking the sauce was a piece of cake (well, cutting the onions wasn’t really something happy!). Despite I’m Sicilian, I decided to do a simpler version of the Sfincione, for those who struggle finding the right ingredients or don’t like certain foods. Follow always this recipe, but feel free to change the following ingredients:
| ORIGINAL | ALTERNATIVE |
| Chopped Tomatoes | Tomato Sauce |
| Anchovies | No Anchovies |
| Chopped Onions | Cook a big piece of onion with the sauce then remove it, just to give some extra taste to the sauce! |
| Caciocavallo* | Choose between mature cheddar or gouda |
| Pecorino* | Grated Parmesan cheese |
*As is not very easy to find these ingredients outside of Italy, fee free to use the Alternative, or something that you think will fit!
I cooked my own alternative version with Tomato Sauce, no anchovies, some big pieces of onion that I removed from the sauce and some mature Cheddar and Gouda.
When the dough and the sauce are ready to go, is time to cut the cheese and cook the breadcrumbs!
Remember to put the Oregano and the grated Pecorino (or Parmesan!).
FINISH
And it’s done! My Sfincione is ready to go (remember to put a bit of olive oil on top when you take it off the oven)! Despite the fact that I didn’t use some of the original Sicilian ingredients, the passion that I did put into it was 100% pure Sicilian! So, even if you don’t live in Sicily anymore, and you can’t find all the right ingredients for the original recipe, don’t worry, just cook it with what you can find! You’re promoting your culture, and we’ll be proud of you anyway.
