Prepared on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve as an appetizer, though always good in summer on holiday tables or on the beach. They are scacce ragusane, little pockets of stuffed and delicious pasta made in many different variations. Street food in the area of Ragusa usually requires few ingredients like tomato and caciocavallo cheese (it’s best to use the Ragusano DOP version). But scacce can also be enriched with onions, eggplant, ricotta cheese or sausage. Let's find out how to make scacce ragusane!
Recipe for Scacce Ragusane
Scacce ragusane ingredients:
9 oz of durum wheat semolina, 1 tsp brewer's yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup water at room temperature, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 liter of tomato sauce, 1 clove of garlic, 7 oz of Ragusano DOP (or caciocavallo cheese), Extra-virgin olive oil to taste, Salt to taste, Basil leaves
Method:
Start by making the tomato sauce. Fry the garlic in a pan with the extra-virgin olive oil. Once golden-brown, add the tomato sauce. Let it cook over low heat for at least half an hour. Adjust the salt and add basil leaves to taste. In the meantime, prepare the dough for the scacce: dissolve the salt in the water and put the semolina and yeast in a bowl. Slowly add all the salted water. Don’t forget two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and the teaspoon of sugar! Knead everything with your hands. The mixture should be soft and elastic. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for a couple of hours: the dough should double in volume. In the meantime, grate the cheese. Then transfer the dough to a floured work surface and divide it in half. The first half will have to be rolled out for a wide and thin disc. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about an hour and a half, or until it has at least doubled in volume. While the dough is still rising, cut 200 g of caciocavallo cheese into small cubes and set aside. Once the necessary time has elapsed, turn the dough over on a well-floured work surface, divide it in half and roll out the first piece of dough for a wide and thin circle. Pour the sauce on the disc and sprinkle with the caciocavallo cheese cubes. Close the disc, pulling the ends towards the center for a long rectangle. Spread more tomato sauce and caciocavallo cheese. Fold the shorter sides towards the center for a square. Add more sauce and caciocavallo cheese and finally fold the square. You will have a small rectangular “package”.
Do the same thing with the other half of the dough, then place the two slices on a drip pan lined with baking parchment and bake in a preheated oven at 485°F (250°C) for about 30 minutes. They must be well colored.
