Kiddipedia
Makes 3
When I was young, I used to play soccer for an all-Italian team with my best mate Alex. When we first joined Puglia F.C. we had no idea that we would come for the soccer but stay for the panzerotti. ‘What are panzerotti?’ I hear you ask. Well, they are small, fried Italian calzones stuffed with different ingredients, such as passata, anchovies, basil and mozzarella, and they were the reason we won the league. This version of panzerotti is a little healthier, as I use puff pastry for flakiness rather than the traditional thicker dough.
GRAB THE FOLLOWING
450 g passata or pizza sauce
3 sheets of frozen puff pastry, just thawed
2 balls of buffalo mozzarella, roughly torn
9 anchovy fillets
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt flakes (optional)
1 basil sprig, leaves picked
ARE YOU READY?
Normally, panzerotti are small but we are going to make these big enough to share (or perhaps not share). Spoon
3 tablespoons of the passata or pizza sauce in the centre of each pastry sheet and spread it out, leaving a 3 cm border. Top with the mozzarella and the anchovy fillets (don’t worry if they are oily as this adds the flavour we are looking for).
Fold each sheet of pastry over the filling to make a triangle, then tuck the corners underneath to make a rough-looking semicircle. Press down firmly to seal the pastry or crimp with a fork if you want fancy pastry marks, but I love the rustic Italian approach.
Using a pastry brush, channel Michelangelo and paint the beaten egg over the top of the panzerotti, then sprinkle over the salt, if using. Line the base of your air fryer with baking paper and cook the panzerotti one at a time on 170°C for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve the panzerotti on a board with the basil leaves scattered over the top.
Air Fryer Express by George Georgievski, Published by Plum, RRP $26.99, Photography by Nikole Ramsay
