After winning the tiella and focaccia barese competitions in Bari, Laura Monno, from Cassano delle Murge, also won the 2014 edition of the Disfida dei Calzoni di Cipolla (onion calzone) that was held in Capurso. She reveals all the secrets of her recipe here.
“This time there was no obligation to follow the tradition: a ‘calzone’ where the onion was the main ingredient. This is the theme of the 4th edition of this challenge, La Disfida dei Calzoni di Cipolla, launched by the Associazione culturale La Compagnia della Lunga Tavola for professionals and amateurs. A voyage of flavors and opinions supported by the usual tasters of trust to consolidate a recipe that sounds like this,” she said.
Aluminum pan 28 cm
Dough:
250 grams of flour 0
6 grams of yeast
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
half a teaspoon of sugar water
Filling:
1.5 kg of sponsali (onions)
extra virgin olive oil
cherry tomatoes
black olives in water
3 anchovy fillets
a tablespoon of raisins
200 grams of dry salt cod (from desalination, goes desalted at least 3 days prior to the preparation of the calzone)
Apulian canestrato semistagionato
You can usually prepare everything in advance when you want to prepare the calzone with the preparation of the filling of onions. Clean the onions (sponsali) removing the green ends. Leave them in the water for a couple of hours, changing every half hour. Drain well, slice and prepare them for cooking that must take place in a very large pot, add a little evo oil and coarse salt. Cook without lid. You can recover a bit of the cooking broth to soak the raisins. After about 20 minutes you can add the tomatoes, anchovies and pitted olives chopped. Mix several times so that the mixture continues to expel the excess liquid. After 10 minutes, add raisins and salt cod previously boiled and reduced to small pieces. Blend together for a few minutes and you put them in a colander with a lid. Let it cool. You may decide to prepare the calzone in one day, as long as the filling is cold and drained well, or the day after storing it in the fridge.
Proceed with the preparation of the dough, a basic classic pizza with yeast that is better to activate first with sugar and warm water. Oil must be added to the mixture in order to give elasticity and crispness to the calzone. Let rise for a couple of hours and proceed. Make a round base on the bottom of the pan well greased, put in the stuffing on it and sprinkle with grated cheese, then cover it all with another disc of dough, which you will seal with the edge of the bottom, going to create a drawstring along the entire circumference. With the help of a fork make holes on the outer surface of the calzone, previously oiled. This allows the steam to escape during cooking.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes at 200 degrees.
The smell that is released during cooking is something you can not describe, you just have to try. You can taste it warm or even cold.
