Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [303]
3. When the dough is no longer sticky and has become smooth and elastic, you can either wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and return to it 1 or 2 hours later, or else proceed at once, as follows: Cut it into pieces each about the size of an extra-large egg, about 6 to 7 pieces for the quantity of dough produced with this recipe. Roll out each piece of dough into a very thin disk about 1/16 inch thick.
4. Over medium heat, heat up the cast-iron skillet or the soapstone griddle until it is hot enough to make a drop of water skip. If you are using a skillet, you will need to adjust the heat periodically because iron does not retain heat as steadily and evenly as stone. Place one of the disks of dough on it, cook without moving it for 10 seconds, then turn it over with a spatula and cook the other side, without moving it, another 10 seconds. (The side that was next to the grilling surface should be speckled with a scattering of black spots; if it is blackened over a large area, turn the heat down a little.) When the piadina has cooked for 10 seconds on each side, prick it here and there with a fork, and continue cooking for 3 or 4 minutes, rotating it frequently to keep it from being scorched and flipping it over from time to time to cook it evenly on both sides. When done it should have a dull, parched, white surface mottled by random burn marks.
5. Take the piadina off the fire, cut it into 4 pie-like wedges, and prop them up anywhere where they can stand on their curved edge, letting air circulate around the wedges while you cook another piadina. Repeat the procedure until all the disks of dough are done. Serve as promptly as possible, preferably while still warm. If necessary, piadina wedges can be reheated in a very hot oven.
Consum—Griddle Dumplings
Consum, both the word and the dumpling it designates, are not to be found outside of Romagna. The dough closely resembles that of another native Romagna product, piadina, and the cooking method is identical, over the same sort of flat griddle. The robustly savory stuffing is a mixture of greens sautéed in garlic and olive oil.
For 6 servings, 6 or 7 dumplings
FOR THE STUFFING
Make the Sautéed Mixed Greens with Olive Oil and Garlic from this recipe, using 3 pounds of greens divided as follows:
2 pounds “sweet” greens, such as Swiss chard, spinach, or Savoy cabbage
1 pound “bitter” greens, preferably cime di rapa, also known as broccoletti di rapa or rapini, OR Catalonia chicory OR dandelion
FOR THE DOUGH
All the ingredients required for making Piadina
FOR COOKING
A cast-iron skillet or a soapstone griddle (see note)
1. Follow the directions in the piadina recipe to prepare the dough and roll it into thin disks about 6 to 7 inches in diameter.
2. Over one-half of each disk spread a ½-inch thick layer of sautéed greens, drained of their cooking oil. Fold the other half of the disk over the greens, to meet the edge of the lower half, thus making a large half-moon-shaped dumpling. Seal the edges tightly together, pressing them down with your thumb or using a pastry crimper.
3. Heat up the skillet or griddle as described in Step 4 of the piadina recipe. When hot, put on it 2 dumplings, or 3 if they fit. Cook them 4 to 5 minutes altogether, turning them frequently, and using a pair of tongs to stand them on edge briefly. They are done when the dough is a dull, parched, white mottled by random burn marks. Serve promptly.
Note The dough for consum can be thinned out through the rollers of a pasta machine set to obtain a thickness no greater than ⅛ inch. If it is easier for you, you can cut the dough into squares and make the dumplings triangular in shape, or even rectangular. As long as the dough is all the same thickness, and the dumplings are more or less the same size, the shape is not important.
Variation: