Panzerottis Recipes

Steps:

• Pour enough canola or vegetable oil into a large Dutch oven to come 4 to 5 inches up the sides. Clip a deep-fry thermometer to the edge of the pan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to 365 degrees F.
• Meanwhile, place the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once warm, add the tomato puree and cook until bubbling and most water has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Dice the mozzarella and place in a strainer to remove any excess liquid. Set aside.
• Dust a work surface with flour. Roll the pizza dough out until it is 1/4 inch thick. Using a 4- to 5-inch biscuit cutter, cut out rounds. Spread 1 to 2 teaspoons cooled tomato puree on one half of a round. Top with a basil leaf and 1 tablespoon mozzarella. Fold the other half of the round over to enclose the filling and pinch the edges to seal. Continue until all dough is filled and sealed. (At this point you can freeze the panzerotti for up to a month.)
• Drop 2 to 3 panzerotti into the preheated oil and fry until golden, flipping them frequently, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain them on a plate lined with paper towels. Continue until all the panzerotti are cooked. Sprinkle with salt. Eat them hot!

Steps:

• Make the dough: Mix the yeast with 1 1/4 cups warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the raw sugar and sea salt. Whisk and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Using your hands, mix in the flour until all the liquid is absorbed. Now sprinkle a clean surface with flour and knead the dough until it's smooth. If the dough is too sticky, add some more flour as needed. Once it's smooth, shape the dough into a ball.
• Coat a large ceramic bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil. Place the dough in the ceramic bowl and flip it over a few times to lightly coat the dough with oil. Loosely cover the top of the dough with plastic wrap and completely cover the top of the ceramic bowl with a dish towel. Let it rise for 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size. Then punch down the dough and let it rise for another hour.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a large bowl, hand crush the tomatoes. Add the olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, chile flakes, Parmigiano, sea salt and lots of cracked pepper. Mix. Cover and let sit in the fridge for 3 hours, or overnight.
• Use a fine wire-mesh sieve to drain all the liquid from the tomato sauce. Roughly chop the drained tomato chunks into little pieces and set aside.
• Dust a clean surface with flour. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. If the dough is too sticky, dust with more flour. Once the dough is rolled out, use a 5-inch-round cookie cutter to cut about 10 to 12 circles of dough. On one half of each circle, place 1 tablespoon mozzarella, 1 tablespoon of drained tomato pieces, 1/4 teaspoon capers and 1 chopped anchovy and sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon Romano cheese. Fold the circles over and completely seal the edges with a fork.
• In a heavy pot, heat 6 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. Deep-fry the panzarotti until golden, crispy and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Place them on paper towels to drain the excess oil.

Steps:

• To make pancakes: Place the milk and the eggs in a blender and mix briefly. Add the flour, nutmeg and melted butter and mix BRIEFLY once more. Do not over mix or else the mixture will have too many bubbles. Should this happen let it rest for half an hour before using. Season with salt and pepper.
• Using a frying pan, or crepe pan of about 20-22 cm in diameter brush with butter and start making the pancakes. I use about a quarter cup mixture for each pancake. Grease the pan between each pancake.
• For the filling: Mix the ricotta, parmesan, egg, chopped spinach, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
• Tomato 'Spring' Sauce: Peel and remove the seeds from the tomato, place in a blender with 5 basil leaves,1 tbsp olive oil salt and pepper.
• Fill the pancakes with the ricotta mixture and roll up like canelloni.Cut each rolled up pancake into 4 slices, each slice will be left with a loose pancake end. Stuff this end into the bottom to stop the ricotta from leaking out, they should look like little cups. Place in a buttered lasagna dish, open side up.
• Pour sauce, besciamelle on and around the panzerotti, dust with more parmesan cheese and bake at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Steps:

• In sauce pan combine tomato sauce, water, lemon juice and spices bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
• While the sauce is simmering divide your dough into three parts then roll out each one making sure not to roll them out to thin.
• Allow the dough to rest.
• When sauce is ready add desired amount to middle of the pizza dough making sure to leave room around edge for folding.
• Top with cheese and pepperoni.
• Fold over and seal edges.
• Preheat oil in deep fryer or large pot to 375.
• Add panzerotti to heated oil cooking for 5 minutes then turn over and cook for another five.
• Remove from oil and place on paper towel.
• Let cool for a couple minutes before serving (leftover sauce can be used for dipping sauce).