Sciusceddu alla messinese

By Frank / 13 April 2019 / 55 Comments

Sciusceddu alla messinese comes to us from Sicily, and specifically from Messina, where this unusual primo piatto is a fixture on Easter dinner tables. It has all the hallmarks of an Italian Easter dish. It’s rich, meat centric—although the meat is usually veal rather than the more typical lamb—and enriched with eggs—symbolic of fertility and rebirth—and cheese.

With all the similarities it shares with other Easter dishes, sciusceddu is unique, a sort of soup cum soufflé. Small meatballs are simmered in broth, then topped with a ricotta and egg mixture. The eggs are separated and the whites whipped before being gingerly folded into the ricotta mixture. Then it’s into a hot oven, where the topping puffs up and browns beautifully.

Sciusceddu makes a lovely presentation, fit for a special occasion like Easter. The combination of flavors and textures may be novel, but if you try it I think you’ll be delighted. So if you want to serve something a little bit different for Easter dinner this year, here’s your ticket…

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

1 l (4 cups) meat broth, preferably homemade

For the meatballs:

400 g (1 lb) ground veal (or beef)
1-2 Tbs grated caciocavallo or pecorino cheese
75 g (3/4 cups) breadcrumbs
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
A sprig or two of parsley, finely minced
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
A pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon (optional)

For the ricotta soufflé:

400 g (1 lb) ricotta cheese
75g (1/2 cup) grated caciocavallo, pecorino or Parmesan cheese
4-5 eggs, separated
A sprig of parsley, finely minced
Salt and pepper

Directions

Step 1: Make the meatballs: Mix all the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl. (Your impeccably washed hands are the best instrument for the job.) Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes or so for the flavors to meld and the breadcrumbs to soften.

Using a spoon or, even better, a small sized scoop, form small meatballs about the size of small walnuts.

Simmer the meatballs in the broth for about 5 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and let the meatballs rest in the broth until needed.

Step 2: Make the ricotta soufflé mixture: While the meatballs are simmering, mix the ricotta, grated cheese, egg yolks, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl until you have a smooth paste.

In another bowl or standing mixer, whip the egg whites until they turn creamy, glossy and stiff enough the form firm peaks. Add a dollop of the whipped whites to the ricotta mixture and whisk to lighten the mixture a bit. Then plop the rest of the egg whites on top of the ricotta mixture and fold them gingerly into the mixture with a spatula using a circular scooping motion, just until you’ve fully incorporated them. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

Step 3: Assemble: Lay the meatballs in the bottom of individual oven-proof bowls (or in a baking dish large enough to hold them all in a single layer) and pour over enough broth to barely cover the meatballs.

Now lay the ricotta soufflé mixture on top of the meatballs, completely covering them.

Step 4: Bake and serve: Place the bowls or baking dish in a hot (200C/400F) oven and bake until the top of the soufflé is nicely puffed up and golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Serve right away.

Notes on Sciusceddu alla messinese

The recipe for sciusceddu may have a fair number of steps to it, but for a special occasion dish, it’s pretty easy. If you’ve already made the broth, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or so from start to finish. You can also make it partially ahead if you like, up to where you fold the egg whites into the topping. And in a pinch, it actually re-heats rather nicely, even if the topping will lose its ‘springy’ texture.

One of the charms of this dish is the ‘surprise’ effect when you dig into the topping and find meatballs simmered in a rich broth below…

But there is also a more straightforward variation of this dish, where the ricotta mixture is added directly to the soup as a thickener rather than a topping. (You add the eggs whole to the ricotta mixture, without whipping the whites.) In a variation on this variation, the ricotta is replaced with a thick béchamel.. This version seems easier to make and is no doubt just as tasty, but I find the soup cum soufflé version rather more appealing.

There are also some more subtle variants on the recipe. Beef (or even lamb) can substitute for the pricier veal, for example. The grated cheese can be pecorino or even Parmesan rather than the hard-to-find caciocavallo. And if you want to spice things up, some recipes have you add cinnamon or nutmeg to the meatballs, others a pinch of peperoncino.

About the name…

There are various theories about the origins of the untranslatable name of this dish. One is that sciusceddu is a corruption of the Latin juscellum, which was an ancient Roman soup (featured in Apicius) made from breadcrumbs, eggs and spices mixed together and simmered in broth. Another is that scisceddu comes from the Sicilian verb sciusciare, which means ‘to blow’, a reference to the fact you serve this dish piping hot from the oven. Yet another theory has it that sciusceddu is a corruption of the French ‘soufflé’ an allusion to the soufflé like ricotta topping.

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