When first had the idea to open his restaurant in Sydney's Rushcutters Bay, he called his mum. He wanted to ask her about recipes, because he wanted to represent his southern Italian roots: he'd grown up near the town of , on a farm that was on the cusp of the , and regions.The was an hour or so away. That initial restaurant, launched in 2012, eventually became , his current business, which has had a Roman-inspired menu since 2017.
He tells us this while reaching across the table. He slides over a ring-bound notebook, like one you’d find in any newsagent. He opens it up to reveal handwritten recipes of the things he loved to eat as a kid, all of them written by his mother, in the classic Italian mum-style – with very little direction and almost zero measurements.
The first page of that book contained a recipe for calzoncelli di ceci: sweet, ravioli-like pastries that are filled with chickpea mash and chocolate, and then fried. “She knew this was my favourite. She couldn’t forget it or she would have been in trouble,” Carnevale says with a laugh.
Calzoncelli di ceci is made using an old family recipe. Source: Leigh Griffiths
He describes a scene from his childhood: rushing into the kitchen to see his mum or grandma making them: freshly sculpting the dough with a splash of white wine added in, rolling out little pocketed squares like ravioli, stuffing them with the spiced chickpea and chocolate mixture, and then finally frying them in a copper pot of sunflower oil over an open fire.
“You want to be right there, you can't eat it when it's hot, but when it's warm, oh – it’s like something out of this universe. It's warm, you crunch into it, oh!" he says. "[There's] a bit of texture, then you get this explosion of flavour with the chocolate, cinnamon and star anise. You have the texture from the chickpeas, and then there's the touch of alcohol just balancing everything beautifully.”
Calzoncelli di ceci is a Christmas tradition, not just in the Carnevale family, but for everyone in Rapone and all the nearby towns, too. “We would eat them after lunch or dinner. Mum would bring – and I'm not exaggerating – a mountain of them on a plate. And that’s it, there it goes on the table. Maybe with some coffee and nocche regine (leftover dough arranged in a spiral and fried)”. Every day after Christmas would be the same. “From literally the 24th to the 6th of January, we have calzoncelli every day. That’s our holiday period. The family all gathers together eating and drinking during that time.”
The pastries feature a chocolate and chickpea filling. Source: Flavio Carnevale
From literally the 24th to the 6th of January, we have calzoncelli every day.
The flaky dessert is from the region he lived in. “It's very concentrated in the area. Everyone will have a different version. The baked ones with almonds come from the next town, , about 20 kilometres from my place. My aunties worked there in a patisserie, so we had a strong connection there. In my town, they're fried with chickpeas inside.” In other towns, the calzoncelli are bigger, smaller, dipped in honey, or filled with chestnuts instead of chickpeas, he explains.
It’s been like that for as long as Carnevale can remember, and it was the same for his mum and his grandma as well. “My grandma would have learnt from her mum, it’s a very old recipe, maybe 300 years old. A lot of the recipes from my home town are very old. It’s all made from things in the area, that have been saved for the winter,” he says.
The baked style of calzoncelli di ceci could be found in neighbouring town Melfi. Source: Nicholas Jordan
It might be changing now, but calzoncelli di ceci and so many other recipes were created in a context where food was scarcer and labour wasn’t. Most Italians now, in Italy or overseas, don’t have the time, desire or need to interact with food like their grandparents did. “There has been a gap in generations. There was one stage where everyone wanted to eat like Americans, a lot of culture is being lost.”
Carnevale is lucky that, here in Sydney, he can stay connected to his memories of Rapone and family. “My aunty makes it here, it's very similar to my mum's recipe.”
Every Christmas in Sydney is just like the one Carnevale would have in Italy, chased with a plate of calzoncelli di ceci. But now the youngest, greediest consumers aren’t Carnevale and his brother, but the younger generation, Carnevale’s two children. “Kids have been so lucky growing up eating all these dishes like I did.”
Calzoncelli di ceci
Makes 18-20 pieces
You will need to begin this recipe the day before.
Filling
- 1 kg dry chickpeas
- 700 g grated dark chocolate
- 300 g sugar
- 15 g bitter chocolate power (any high quality cocoa powder will work)
- 15 g cinnamon powder
- 30 ml espresso (one shot)
- 15 ml of cognac, rum or whisky
- 300 g honey
Dough
- 1 kg of 00 flour or any highly refined plain flour
- 200 ml chickpea water (the leftover water from cooking chickpeas)
- 100 ml dry white wine (plus extra if needed)
- 200 ml vegetable oil
1. To make the filling, place the dried chickpeas in a large pot with enough cold water to cover the chickpeas. Leave overnight or for around 12 hours.
2, Place the pot on a high heat and bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat, so the chickpeas are simmering. Once the chickpeas are a very soft consistency, take the pot off the stove and let the chickpea and liquid cool down about 4 hours.
3. Strain the chickpeas, but retain at least 250 ml of the chickpea water and set aside for later use.
4. Add the chickpeas to a bowl and roughly mash the chickpeas, removing the skins as you go.
5. While the chickpea mash is still warm, add the dark chocolate, sugar, chocolate powder and cinnamon. Mix the ingredients by hand or in a stand mixer on a slow setting. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, add the espresso and 30ml of cognac, rum or whisky. Once the alcohol is mixed in, add the honey and mix through. Cover the mixture, and let it rest in the fridge.
6. To make the dough, combine the flour in large bowl with 200 ml of the chickpea water and the white wine. Mix for 2 to 4 minutes by hand or in a stand mixer on a medium to low speed. Then add 200 ml of vegetable oil and mix. The dough should be firm and silky – if it’s still crumbling a bit, add more wine, little by little, until the dough reaches a firm and smooth consistency.
6. To make the dough, combine the flour in large bowl with 200 ml of the chickpea water and the white wine. Mix for 2 to 4 minutes by hand or in a stand mixer on a medium to low speed. Then add 200 ml of vegetable oil and mix. The dough should be firm and silky – if it’s still crumbling a bit, add more wine, little by little, until the dough reaches a firm and smooth consistency.
7. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and set aside while you set up a pasta machine or a benchtop for rolling the dough.
8. Unwrap the dough and cut into 5-6 small pieces. Roll each piece until it’s flat (if the dough is sticking on the working bench, put a teaspoon of vegetable oil on the surface and distribute it well, so you don't create a slippery workbench).
9. Fill a medium-large pot (use a 2 litre pot or larger) with vegetable or sunflower oil until the pot is half full. Set it on a low heat and let it warm while you assemble the calzoncelli.
10. Thin the dough with a rolling pin or pasta machine. Keep any leftover dough in plastic wrap or an airtight container to make nocche regine.
11. When the pastry is slightly translucent (the thinnest setting on a pasta machine), use a 5cm cutting disc or a water glass and a small knife to cut a series of rectangles or circles.
12. Place a small ball of the filling in the centre of a pastry disc or rectangle, then place another sheet of pre-cut pastry on top. Seal the two sheets of pastry as tightly as possible, and fold the edges over each other. If you like, you can create a lace-like pattern at the pastry's edge.
13. Once all the calzoncelli are filled and sealed, check the temperature of the warm oil if you have a thermometer – it should be around 140°C.
14. Set up a tray or a large plate with some paper towels or absorbent paper.
15. Gently place 2-3 calzoncelli in the oil at a time. When one side is golden, floating and has developed a bubbly surface, flip and cook until golden on the other side.
16. Repeat with the remaining calzoncelli. Once all the calzoncelli are cooked, place on the paper-lined tray or plate and wait about 10 minutes for the dough to cool down. Remove the paper towels or absorbent paper.
17. Dust the pastries with icing sugar and serve.
Note: To make the nocche regine with the leftover dough, roll the leftover dough into a thin sheet (or, if using a pasta machine, run the dough through the thinnest setting). Use a ravioli cutter to cut a strip of dough that’s 20cm long and 2.5cm wide (or use a knife to make a serrated pattern at the edge if you don't have a ravioli cutter). Take one end of the strip and gently curl it onto itself. Pinch the end of the strip onto itself, so you have a spiral that holds together. Heat sunflower or vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat. Fry the dough spiral in the oil. Once thoroughly cooked and golden on one side, flip and cook until golden on the other side. Remove each dough spiral from the oil and place on a paper-lined tray or plate. Once the fried pastry has cooled, cover in icing sugar and honey, and serve.
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