These Sofficini are delicious fried pastries filled with ham and cheese.
Think about it, pastry filled with ham, cheese and besciamella sauce, crumbed and fried. It’s got to be good. And it is!
Be sure to also try my Bagna Cauda appetizer it is a great traditional dish that everybody loves.
The amounts of filling required for the sofficini are really variable depending on the size of the rounds that you cut. Also you will notice sesame seeds on my finished sofficini. No, definitely not traditional however I make my own breadcrumbs from stale and unfinished bread – never waste bread, remember! Homemade breadcrumbs are the best. I always flavour my breadcrumbs with a little garlic, herbs or seeds.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups flour sifted
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1½ teaspoons salt
Besciamella
- 3 tablespoons (45g) butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- a grinding of whole nutmeg
- salt and white pepper
To assemble
- 1¾ cups (200g) cheese gouda, swiss, mozzarella or provolone
- 1½ cups diced ham
- 1 egg
- 1 cup breadcrumbs to coat
Instructions
Dough
- Bring the milk, butter and salt to the boil. Once it boils take it off the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir well until the dough comes away from the sides of the saucepan. This is like a choux pastry without the eggs.
- Once the dough is cool enough to handle knead gently until smooth. It’s a beautiful dough that handles well. Now wrap in plastic and allow to cool to room temperature.
Besciamella
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until the butter and flour mixture is bubbling. Change to a whisk and carefully add the milk whisking all the time. Bring to boil stirring or whisking the whole time to avoid lumps. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Once it boils allow to bubble for a minute to cook out the flour. Remove from the heat. Set aside until needed.
To assemble and fry
- Roll out the dough fairly thinly, about ⅛in/ 3mm. Cut 5in/13cm rounds. (4in/10cm for smaller appetizer sofficini)
- In the middle of the round place a small amount of besciamella, cheese and ham. Fold over and press with a fork to close. The dough stuck easily and rerolled beautifully.
- Beat the egg with a fork. Dip the sofficini first in the egg then in the breadcrumbs. Fry in hot oil. Sofficini can be frozen at the breadcrumb stage and then fried from the frozen.
Tried this recipe? I’d love to see!Mention @marcellina.in.cucina or tag #marcellinaincucina
I bet they tasted good !!!! they look delicious !
WOW!!!!! Your sofficini look perfect!!!! Thank you so much for your sweet words! I am very glad you liked them!
I too grew up mostly eating home-made food, but I would sometimes "beg" for sofficini! hehehe They are too good! They are not a traditional dish, and yes… they are a home-made version of a frozen meal! 😉
Thank you Manu! So, that answers the question Greg posed. It's official Sofficini are not traditional Italian food. But they are very good!
Renata, coincidentally , Greg Patent has a recipe in his cookbook "A Baker's Odyssey" called "rissois" from Portugal similar but with a creamy shrimp filling.
Hmmm, so it appears that children (and adults) all over the world have been enjoying a form of this delicious pastry!
i love sofficini, my dear…i will prepare them as soon as possible!yours are perfect, as usual…love, Ale.
Hey Marcellina! here in Brazil these are called "risoles" and are super popular! I think this was one of the first things I learned how to cook when i was a teenager 🙂 I love it! Yours looks so delicious!!
Those look seriously tasty! Anything deep fried with cheese is going to taste gorgeous 🙂
Greg, I'm not sure that sofficini are actually a traditional dish. More so, I think this is the homemade version of a frozen meal! Interesting, though! Maybe someone can correct me?
Well, I'm curious. What part of Italy are these yummy-looking pastries from?
Sooo delicious! Mouthwatering!
My parents believed in homemade food too, from tomato sauce to fresh and seasonal vegs and fruits! Grew up just fine 😀