This classic Nonnie recipe is for Fucazzo (pronounced, “foo-GOTS”)—an Italian onion and anchovy pie that, oddly enough, was one of my childhood favorites.
Nonnie made her Fucazzo in the form of a calzone—spreading the ingredients over a layer of pizza dough, covering it with a top layer of dough and brushing it with egg yolk before baking.
My riff on this dish treats it as a pizza; using the always-fabulous Boboli pizza crusts. I also modified Nonnie’s original by adding chile peppers, fresh herbs, goat cheese and a drizzle of extra-virgen olive oil.
However you choose to spin it, the soul of Fucazzo is the jiu-jitsu between the sweetness of onions and tomato sauce vs. the brininess of anchovies and oil-cured black olives.
Just don’t eat a slice before a first date.
NONNIE’S FUCAZZO1 Boboli Pizza Crust2 Large Onions5 oz. Tomato Sauce (just eyeball it)Oil-cured Black Olives (remove pits)AnchoviesFresh ParselyFresh BasilChopped Green Chiles (Jalapeno or Serrano)Goat Cheese (optional)Salt & PepperExtra Virgen Olive OilStep 1: Saute onion in some olive oil until soft and translucent.Step 2: Add salt, pepper and tomato sauce to onions. Let simmer a few minutes.Step 3: Brush Boboli with olive oil.Step 4: Spread onion mixture onto Boboli, leaving a 1 inch border.Step 5: Arrange anchovies, chiles, olives and dollops of goat cheese atop of onions.Step 6: Place directly on bottom rack of 450F oven and bake for 12 minutes.Step 7: Remove from oven. Drizzle with extra virgen olive oil and top with fresh herbs.
“…remove pits”
Wow!!! I can tell you’re back in America, AND an attorney!
Ha! I didn’t think of it that way. When Nonnie recited this recipe to me, she mentioned that *her* mother left the pits in the olives–so eaten a slice of Fucazzo was like an obstacle course.
I’ve also noticed that the human tooth becomes a sand castle after age 35 (thus, my four crowns). De-pitification is probably a “best practice” regardless of any emotional trauma caused by one’s great grandmother.
The world would never be the same without Southern Italian Nonnies. 🙂
Oh yum.
And thanks for the word on the crowns. That explains the snapping of points in recent years.