This time nine years ago, we had just arrived in Sicily. It was the beginning of our second long summer stay in my partner’s grandparents’ house in Gela, a city on the south coast. The previous year had been the first time in many years that the house had been opened up and (thanks to the practical skills of another cousin) made comfortable and pretty much fully functional. Not functional enough, though, to cope with being closed up for another eight months, so when we arrived in 2016 the oven, fridge and washing machine all had problems getting going. So much so that we replaced two of them, but decided to do all we could for the cooker. Also, because it really was and is an extension of my partner’s grandmother Sara, who (I’ve been told) would have hated me turning her into a caricature.
We called a man who gave the 1970s cooker a thorough service and, after replacing the gas tubes and valves, gave it the all-clear, while making it plain that this was almost certainly a last reprieve. He left saying that while we should make the most of it, we shouldn’t make too many demands of it. Being June, and in a small house in the middle of an industrial city, demanding things from a gas ring, never mind an oven, was not a priority. So we used the oven only occasionally, and when we did only very early in the day, to make various things, including a few recipes for this column and the first incarnation of this week’s recipe, le scacce ragusane.
Typical of Ragusa, which is about 70km from Gela, scacce means squashed, and refers to the way the dough is wrapped and squashed around a rich filling of tomato, onion and cheese. The traditional cheese is ragusano, a firm cow’s milk cheese (part of the pasta filata stretched-curd cheese family) made in the provinces of Ragusa and Syracuse, and just as effective and tasty as cheddar, scamorza and provola. There is also no reason you couldn’t add a few anchovies to the tomato mix, too.
In much the same way as a pop tart, the filling will be molten hot for quite some time, so leave them to cool a bit before biting into them, or leave to cool completely before stacking and wrapping up in a clean tea towel to take on a picnic. When they are unpacked, they can be eaten whole, Cornish pasty-style, or cut into thick slices.
Folded flatbreads with tomato, onion and cheese (scacce)
Makes 4
10g dried yeast, or 20g fresh yeast
50ml tepid milk
1 pinch sugar
500g durum wheat or plain flour
Olive oil
Salt
400g ripe tomatoes
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 pinch dried oregano
200g ragusano, or cheddar, grated or cut into small cubes
Start on the dough by mixing the yeast with the milk and a pinch of sugar, then leave it to wake up for 10 minutes. Add the flour, 220ml water, two tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bring everything together into a soft dough. Knead, then cover and leave to rest for two hours, or until doubled in size.
Peel the tomatoes by plunging them first into boiling water for two minutes and then into cold water, so the skins pull away easily. Quarter the tomatoes, scoop out the seeds and cut the flesh into slender arcs.
In a pan on a low heat, soften the onions in olive oil with a pinch of salt, then add the tomatoes and oregano, and cook for about 15 minutes, until the mixture is rich and thick.
Cut the dough into four equal pieces, then, working on a lightly oiled surface, roll and press each quarter into a roughly 20cm x 30cm rectangle. Spread some of the tomato mix in the centre of each piece and leave clear a border all around the edge – 5cm at the long sides and 2cm at the top and bottom. Sprinkle over a quarter of the cheese, then bring in the long sides to cover the filling. Fold in half like a book, then pinch the top and bottom edges like a pop tart.
Lift on to a baking tray, brush with oil and bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 for 40 minutes, until golden. Leave to cool before wrapping.