April 2009 – SAL DeTRAGLIA's VIRTUAL TAPAS BAR

And now for another installment of our continuing series.

This classic Nonnie recipe is for Fucazzo (pronounced, “foo-GOTS”)—an Italian onion and anchovy pie that, oddly enough, was one of my childhood favorites.

Nonnie made her Fucazzo in the form of a calzone—spreading the ingredients over a layer of pizza dough, covering it with a top layer of dough and brushing it with egg yolk before baking.

My riff on this dish treats it as a pizza; using the always-fabulous Boboli pizza crusts. I also modified Nonnie’s original by adding chile peppers, fresh herbs, goat cheese and a drizzle of extra-virgen olive oil.

However you choose to spin it, the soul of Fucazzo is the jiu-jitsu between the sweetness of onions and tomato sauce vs. the brininess of anchovies and oil-cured black olives.

Just don’t eat a slice before a first date.

NONNIE’S FUCAZZO

1 Boboli Pizza Crust

2 Large Onions

5 oz. Tomato Sauce (just eyeball it)

Oil-cured Black Olives (remove pits)

Anchovies

Fresh Parsely

Fresh Basil

Chopped Green Chiles (Jalapeno or Serrano)

Goat Cheese (optional)

Salt & Pepper

Extra Virgen Olive Oil

Step 1: Saute onion in some olive oil until soft and translucent.

Step 2: Add salt, pepper and tomato sauce to onions. Let simmer a few minutes.

Step 3: Brush Boboli with olive oil.

Step 4: Spread onion mixture onto Boboli, leaving a 1 inch border.

Step 5: Arrange anchovies, chiles, olives and dollops of goat cheese atop of onions.

Step 6: Place directly on bottom rack of 450F oven and bake for 12 minutes.

Step 7: Remove from oven. Drizzle with extra virgen olive oil and top with fresh herbs.

I never made Paella during the eight years that I lived in Spain .

Why would I? For a mere 15-20 Euros, I could go to any one of a thousand nearby bars and restaurants and just buy one. For the same reason, I never learned to make deep dish pizza during the years I lived in Chicago or a pick-up truck back-window gun rack during the years I lived in Pennsylvania .

But when I left Spain to live in another country, I realized that this chink in my cooking armor needed to be patched. So I arrived early to a lunch being hosted by a Spanish friend and took careful notes.

PAELLA

– Stock (fish or chicken)
– Meats and/or fish (prawns/calamari, ribs, chicken, rabbit, pork chops, chorizo, etc.)
– Vegetables (onions, tomatoes, garlic, green beans, butterbeans, etc.)
– Saffron, garlic, salt
– Approx. 1 c. rice per person

Step 1: Saute ribs, chicken, rabbit, pork chops, chorizo, etc.

Step 2: Saute and salt onions, tomatoes, garlic, green beans, butterbeans, etc.

Step 3: Add water till it reaches half way up the meat. Turn flame to high and cook until water nearly disappears (approx. 30 minutes).

Step 4: Add rice and sauté.

Step 5: Add 2 c. stock per each 1 c. of rice. If using bomba rice, then 2.5 c. stock per each 1 c. of rice. Stock should cover the rice.

Step 6: Add saffron or tumeric (dissolved in glass of water or stock).

Step 7: Bring to boil, lower flame to medium and leave untouched until syrupy and dry-ish (approx. 25 minutes).

Step 8: Add prawns, clams/mussels and calamari during the last 10 minutes.