Almost Italian

The pairing of pasta e ceci, pasta and chickpeas, goes back at least as far as the Romans. The Apulian-born poet Horace, writing in the first century BCE, speaks of going home to a meal of lagane (flat pasta), leeks, and chickpeas. The nutritious combination of wheat dough and pulses is widespread and enduring; one could enjoy Horace’s supper in Puglia today.

Copyright © 2011, Skip Lombardi

In Italian-American recipes, chickpeas are almost always confined to savory dishes, but there is one notable exception: the filled pastry known as Cavazune* or St. Joseph’s Pants. See our expanded description of the March 19th Feast of St. Joseph and the foods prepared for it.

These pastries, filled with a sweet, spiced purée of cooked chickpeas, are usually fried. Most people in Italy did not have home ovens until after World War II, so in areas that were historically rich with olive oil, but short on cooking fuels, deep-frying was a cost-efficient way to cook. Frying equipment is also portable, and thus, convenient for open-air celebrations.

But in much of North America, March is a little early for an outdoor festa. Deep-frying—whether the treats be calamare, arancine, or dolci—has become a chore many Italian-Americans would rather leave to restaurants. Thus, baking the cavazune is an option.

However, if you are going to bake your pastry, please choose a recipe with enough fat, such as one for a pie-crust or the pastry recipe (page 278) for Calcioni in Gina DePalma’s superb book, Dolce Italiano.

But if you are going to fry your your pastry, you can use less fat in the dough. A recipe for a dough that includes some of the traditional flavors of Sicily is here for those who wish to fry. Baked or fried, the filling for the pastry is the same.

In truth, the chickpea stuffing, spiced with cinnamon and cloves, is reminiscent of pumpkin-pie filling. We include this recipe as an arcane curiosity. If you want to channel your grandmothers, it will give you a taste of centuries past.

St Joseph’s Pants (Cavazune)

Ingredients:

Use a neutral oil for frying. (We prefer canola.) Depending on the size of your pan, you’ll need at least 1/2 cup, and probably more.

Dough:

1 1/2 Cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp sugar
Grated rind of one orange or tangerine

1 Egg
2 Tbs. Olive oil

2-3 Tbs. Cold wine, preferably white

Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food-processor and pulse 2-3 times to combine. With the motor off and lid removed, break in the egg and drizzle the olive oil and one tablespoon of the cold wine over the dry ingredients. Pulse 5-6 times to moisten the mixture; it should begin to clump together to form a ball. Run the motor and drip in a little more wine, until the dough forms a compact ball that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. This will take only a few seconds. Do not over-process!

Remove the dough from the processor and wrap or cover it. Keep it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes while you make the filling. You need not clean the bowl before making the chickpea filling.

Chickpea* Filling

1 1/2 Cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15-oz can)
2 Pinches of ground cloves (no more than 1/8 tsp.)
1 1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
Grated rind of one orange or lemon
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 Tbs. Honey
2 Tbs. Orange juice
2 Tbs. Sweet wine or vin cotto*

In the food-processor bowl, pulse the chickpeas, spices, salt, and citrus rind. Add the liquids and process to make a thick, smooth purée that will allow a spoon to stand. If you need to add a little more liquid, add either orange juice or wine.

Assembly:

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to be 1/8^th inch thick. With a round cookie-cutter 2-3 inches in diameter (or the rim of a water glass), cut as many circles as you can from the dough. Set the cut circles aside. Gather the scraps and repeat, rolling out the dough and cutting more circles, but handle the dough as little as possible to keep it tender.

Place a mounded teaspoon of filling just off-center on each round. Fold over the dough and gently press the edges together as you form a half-moon. With a fork, press the edges shut and make a decorative border (see photo above). Repeat with all the circles. Save a couple of the scraps of dough to test the frying temperature of the oil.

Within reach of your cook-top, place a cake rack over a few layers of paper towels. You will need this to drain the fried cavazune.

Pour 1/2 inch of canola oil into a deep sauté pan or an electric frying pan with a temperature dial. (Italians would have once used olive oil because that was all they had, but even your nonna probably used corn or soybean oil; either will withstand higher heat than olive oil.)

Drop a flattened scrap of dough into the pan. If it sizzles and browns evenly, your oil is hot enough (about 350-360 F on a candy thermometer). Fry your cavazune in batches so as to maintain the temperature of the oil. With tongs or a slotted spoon, turn them over so they color evenly on both sides. It will take 2-3 minutes to fry each batch.

As the cavazune cook, remove them to the cake rack to drain and cool. Sprinkle them with a little salt while they are still hot.

If you do not plan to eat them within an hour, make sure they are completely cool and store them in an air-tight container. Enjoy them as soon as possible. Tradition dictates that all food for La Festa di San Giuseppe be shared!

This recipe makes 24-30 cavuzune.