Calcioni Molisani - Molisani Dumpling

Here a delicious and easy Italian recipe to prepare an amazing appetizer for Carnival. Molise dumplings are traditionally called “Calcioni Molisani”; they are dumpling filled with ricotta and provolone cheese with the addition of raw. A peculiarity of Molise dumpling is the presence of the juice of a lemon in the dough. Molise dumpling are usually fried dumpling but if sometimes you want to prepare this delicious Italian appetizer but you don’t want to fry them you can also bake them, in this case the only thing to remember is that it is better if you roll out a very thin pastry. Fried or baked, Molise dumplings are always a very tasty Italian appetizer for Carnival.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH (for 4 people):

200 g di flour

50 g of lard (or butter)

1 egg

Juice of a lemon

Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:

50 g of ricotta cheese

50 g raw ham cut in square pieces

50 g of provolone cheese cut in small square pieces

1 egg

Parsley

Salt

Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Start with the preparation of the dough: mix all together the flour, the lard, the egg and the juice of a lemon to obtain an homogenous dough, then let it stand while you are preparing the filling.  

Place in a bowl the ricotta cheese, the raw ham, the provolone cheese, the egg and the parsley, mix all together and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

With the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough in a thin pastry, then cut the pastry in piece of 5 cm, place in the middle a teaspoon of the cheese mixture and cover it with another piece of pastry. 

Close the pastry on the side with the help of a fork. 

Now that the Molise dumplings are ready you have to cook them. Preheat abundant extra virgin olive oil and fry the dumplings. I usually fry 2 dumplings in the same time and not more in order to not let them attach each other. Fry the Molise dumpling until they become golden. 

When they are ready place them on a blotting paper in order to remove the excess of oil.

Serve them warm.

BUON APPETITO!