Nanno's Calgiones

Filler:
2 [15.5 oz. each] cans of Ceci (Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans), preferably Micasa Brand, or Goya
2 cans almonds (about 1 cup finely chopped whole almonds with skins)
8 oz. Bakers Chocolate
8 oz. jar of honey

Dough:
6 1/2 cups flour
1 cup of white wine
1 cup oil
1 cup water

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Granulated sugar for garnish

Filler:

Grind the ingredients, melt the chocolate, mix everything together and put in the refrigerator.



Dough:

Don?t knead dough too much. Just make a workable mass. (Dough may seem wet, so sprinkle flour on the pastry board, and sprinkle a little on the dough as you roll it). Make up dough as for ravioli. Roll dough in a strip at least 4-5 in wide (One can use a fluted ravioli cutter). Place chocolate mix a spoonful apart on dough and cut like ravioli. Use fork to close the dough and to seal. Cut apart and put aside. Deep fry in hot oil, and drain. Coat Calgiones with granulated sugar.

I believe this recipe is over 200 years old. It was given to my mother in 1948 by my father's grandmother who was about 78 then. I'm sure she learned it from her mother. It took me three tries to get these right, because I veered from the recipe. It is very important to follow the recipe to the letter. When I did, they came out great. I once read in a Calabrese Cookbook, that these treats originated from the days when wine makers would give the mashed grape skins to the workers after they stomped the grapes. They would add chocolate to them and make these treats as sort of a celebration item, when they were paid for their work. Modern recipes substituted the garbanza bean for the grape pulp.......... Notes: Rocky Marc. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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