The Panuozzo at Cent Anni'
The Panuozzo at Cent Anni'
Pizza Sandwiches on the Sheep's Head
The Panuozzo is coming for you.
Giuseppe Mascolo is the man you have to thank, the next time you are chowing down on a panuozzo.
Monsignor Mascolo created the panuozzo, the sumptuous hybrid of pizza-meets-sandwich, back in 1983 in the town of Gragnano, south of Naples.
You might have already heard of Gragnano, because the town is famous for its pasta. Rachel Roddy, in her masterly book An A-Z of Pasta tells us that in the eighteenth century the town boasted 22 mills and 97 pasta factories. Gragnano has its own denomination: Pasta di Gragnano DOC. The region has the ideal climate for drying pasta, hence its historical success as a producer of top-quality pasta.
But M. Mascolo wasn’t thinking of pasta when he sliced open a frisbee of pizza dough in his pizzeria, stuffed it with meats and cheese, then popped it back into the pizza oven for a couple of moments to melt the cheese. He wanted to make a sandwich for his daughter, who called it a panuozzo – big sandwich.
It’s not a calzone, where the pizza is stuffed then folded and baked, or a pizza fritta, where the calzone is deep-fried.
The panuozzo’s appeal rests with the fact that it is crunchy on the outside and melty on the inside, with a fresh note from salads and charcuterie, thereby rendering everyone defenceless to its appeal: crunchy, fresh and melty, come on!
It’s typical of the quiet creativity that has built a devoted following for the West Cork pizza restaurant Cent’ Anni, in the centre of Durrus village, that they should introduce panuozzo as their lunchtime staple.
There are four on offer: the Basiluzzo has mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh basil, oregano and a drizzle of house dressing; the Lipari adds goat’s cheese and roasted veggies; the Panarea adds roasted ham and rocket; and the Vulcano snuggles in some spicy chicken and red onion.
Cent’ Anni’s pizzaiolo Christian is very much a less-is-more cook, so the judgement in choosing and utilising ingredients is just spot on, all the better to deliver that crunchy-melty magic. This is a super-satisfying lunchtime treat, served with some salty crisps, and you would be happy to eat it every day. Who’d have thought that Gragnano’s panuozzo would become the signature treat of the Sheep’s Head Peninsula in West Cork! Ain’t life strangely wonderful.
