Artichoke Sofficini

If you follow this blog, you will be already familiar with sofficini, as I have published a few recipes already: Ham and Cheese Sofficini, Mushroom Sofficini and Eggplant Sofficini. For all the others who still do not know them, sofficini are delicious pockets of crunchy (yet soft) dough filled with all sorts of scrumptious cheesey goodies. Sofficini are usually sold frozen by a well known brand in Italy and they are some of the most loved food by Italian kids. As I cannot find them here in Australia, I have started to make my own. Besides, home-made always tastes better. Lately I have been experimenting with the filling and this Artichoke and Smoked Scamorza version is my latest discovery. I LOVE them, they are so creamy and gooey and they taste amazing. I always make extra and freeze them, so I have them ready whenever I need a quick lunch or dinner. This is some of my favourite comfort food! Enjoy and buon appetito!

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Artichoke Sofficini

Step by step instructions on how to make Artichoke Sofficini: delicious pockets of crunchy dough filled with creamy artichokes, cheese and béchamel!

Course: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 8

Author: Manuela Zangara

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour sifted
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt

Filling

• 300 gms – 10 oz. sliced fresh artichokes
• 1 tbsp onions chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 200 ml – 6.5 oz. béchamel sauce
• 6 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
• Salt to taste
• 3 or 4 tbps smoked scamorza chopped

Coating

• 1 egg. beaten
• Breadcrumbs to coat

Instructions

Filling

1. Sauté the chopped onions in the extra virgin olive oil and let it fry on a low fire for 1 minute.
2. Add the sliced artichokes, salt to taste and a little water. Cover and let it cook until the artichokes are soft. Put the fire off and keep aside.
3. In the meantime prepare the béchamel sauce by following this recipe.
4. Mix the béchamel sauce and the artichokes, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and season with salt to taste. Keep aside to cool down.
   

Dough

1. Put the milk, butter and salt in a pot and put it on the fire. As soon as it boils, put the fire off and add the sifted flour. Mix well with a wooden spoon until well combined. You will obtain a pliable dough.
   
2. As soon as the dough is safe to handle with your hands, put it on a lightly floured surface and knead it until smooth and soft.
   
3. Make a ball and wrap it in cling wrap. Let it rest at room temperature until completely cool.
   

Assembling and Coating

1. Now roll the dough into a 3mm – 0.12 inches thick sheet. Do it on a sheet of baking paper, to make sure it does not stick. Cut out circles of 13 cm – 5 inches in diameter.
   
2. Place some artichoke filling and 1/8 of the chopped smoked scamorza in one half of each circle, fold the other half over it and seal them well by pressing the edges closed with your fingers.
   
3. Beat the egg in a bowl and add salt to it and put the breadcrumbs in a separate plate.
4. Dip each sofficino in the egg and then coat it well with breadcrumbs, pressing with your palm so the crumbs stick well to it.
   
5. Shallow fry them in warm vegetable oil. Or bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes, but spray them with some extra virgin olive oil before baking them.

Recipe Notes

You can also freeze the sofficini uncooked. Wrap them individually in cling wrap and then put them in a Ziploc bag. You can cook them from frozen whenever you want to.

Manu

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