Buffalo Mozzarella in Scrigno

The Buffalo Mozzarella in Scrigno certainly has as its basis the typical and famous Neapolitan recipe of Mozzarella in Carrozza. A typical Sunday dish, but also one of the bases of the ancient street food of this city. My reinterpretation, however, of this dish lies in using first of all the buffalo mozzarella from Campania Dop, instead of the fior di latte Dop of Agerola (cow's milk mozzarella) or the famous smoked provola, but also and, above all, in the made of giving it a spherical shape with the bread (the casket), which allows the mozzarella to be completely contained without it being able to come out, as often happens in mozzarella in carrozza.

For my advice let's start with cooking: cooking , as for mozzarella in carrozza, should be frying (exceptional for this dish), but where I can I always try to avoid frying. In this case, the very fact that the mozzarella is completely contained in the bread chest allows me to cook it with the hot air fryer. These household appliances, which I use a lot, give back the feeling of fried without it being fried. Alternatively, you can also think about cooking in the oven, always at 200 ° C for 10 minutes, but pre-heating both the oven, but also the pan where you will cook the scrigli, lightly greasing the pan and misting the oil on the mozzarella balls.   For this dish, I used the buffalo mozzarella from Campania dop , but if you can't find it, you can use fresh cow's milk mozzarella. Choose mozzarella from about 60-70 gr each, or, if larger, type 120 gr. , it will be cut in half. If, on the other hand, you use 30-40 g mozzarella balls, you can also make them an aperitif snack. Important: the water that pulls out the mozzarella, when lightly squeezed, is essential to wet the bread, so as to make it soft and workable, to then give it the spherical shape. Last advice: use to accompany these scrigli of the rocket salad, as the bitterness of the rocket goes very well with the sweetness of the buffalo mozzarella from Campania.

4 Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Dop 120 gr. (or cow's milk equivalent)

16 Large Slices of Soft Sandwich Bread
3 large eggs
200 gr of breadcrumbs

50 gr of grated Parmiggiano Reggiano PDO (or Granapadano PDO)

Peanut or Sunflower oil to taste
Salt to taste (preferably Sicilian Integral Marine)
Pepper to taste (if you like)

About 10 minutes of preparation + 10 minutes for cooking

Cut the crust from the 4 sides of the bread slices. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, adding the salt, pepper and Parmiggiano Reggiano. On a cutting board arrange the slices of bread 2 at a time and add them to one corner. Crush them, now, with a rolling pin so as to stretch them slightly. Cut the mozzarella in half and lightly sprinkle the half mozzarella by letting the sauce fall along the 2 slices of bread.

Arrange the freshly squeezed half mozzarella on the corner (where the 2 slices are joined) and close the bread around the mozzarella, overlapping the angles and then working it in your hands until it becomes a sphere. In this operation, take care to seal the bread well around the mozzarella so that it does not come out during cooking.Pass the chest of mozzarella first in the egg and then, well, in the breadcrumbs, always pressing them in your hands to make them adhere well breadcrumbs and to keep the spherical shape. Repeat now for all the other mozzarella.

When they are all ready, place them in the basket of the air fryer, spray them with seed oil (peanut or sunflower) and cook at 200 ° C for 10 minutes. Separately, season the Rucola with salt and extra virgin olive oil in a bowl.

When the mozzarella scrigli are cooked, arrange them on the plate accompanying them with a little salad.