This will be the second Easter in Lockdown for Italy, but we won’t risk running out of Easter recipes to cook at home!
Fiadoni are a typical recipe of my small village in the south of Italy, Cercemaggiore, and I made them with Zia Angelina. She is the typical Italian woman, full of resources and creativity, and she has an amazing wood oven that transforms every recipe into an amazing journey in my memory!
A bit of history...
Fiadoni are also called sciadune, schiatune, scairune, hiatune in different dialects, and they are typically made for Easter, for the family but also to exchange as gifts.
The name comes from the Latin word flatus - breath - as well as the verb inflare - blow - and it refers to the almost magical way in which Fiadoni grow when you cook them.
Is this a dessert or a salty snack?
Fiadoni can be both! The main ingredients are eggs and a mix of cheeses.
As for many traditions, each family follows a slightly different recipe and people that migrated from Cercemaggiore to the US kept evolving the traditional recipe, adding new ingredients and “translating” the name into Shatoon.
Let’s make Fiadoni!
To make Fiadoni you will need simple ingredients, today I will share Zia Angelina’s recipe, but also some variants that you can make to adapt the recipe to your preferences:
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The Pastry:
Mix all the ingredients and knead them well together.
As usual, start by mixing the solids and slowly add all the liquid ingredients until you reach the perfect consistency: not sticky to your fingers but still easy to knead.
Divide the pastry into smaller balls and roll them out. We used a pasta machine because the pastry needs to be as thin as possible for the Fiadoni to be able to grow in the oven.
The Filling:
Mix all the ingredients for the filling. With Angelina we made a savory version with prosciutto ham.
If you prefer a sweeter option skip the ham and add sugar, grated lemon peel and vanilla flavoring. Another option for the sweet version is to use Ricotta cheese instead of the more savory grated cheese. This will make your Fiadoni more delicate and soft.
Time to create Fiadoni
We cut the pastry to the size we prefer: Angelina makes them using a small dessert plate, but you could cut the pastry following a cup or water glass to make these more bite-sized.
We filled the pastry with the cheese and ham filling just enough so that we could easily fold the pastry over and close the Fiadoni and we brushed each half moon with some egg yolk to get that perfect glowing look. We also cut a small hole on top of each Fiadone. This will allow the filling to grow and won’t ruin the edges.
In our case, Angelina carefully placed the Fiadoni in her wood oven and we checked on them to make sure they got to that perfect golden color before taking them out. In a gas or electric oven, this will take around 20/30 minutes at 200°.
And here they are: ready to be enjoyed for Easter and beyond!
You can make a lot and enjoy them also in the following days: just warm the Fiadoni in the oven for a couple of minutes and they will immediately be as good as if you just baked them!
I hope you enjoyed discovering this traditional Italian recipe with me and will make Fiadoni at home, to enjoy with your friends and family. I also filmed a video of the recipe and you can find it on our INSTAGRAM page (it will be saved in the highlighted stories)
Happy Easter!
Federica
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