[Sca-cooks] Bread bowls

[Christiane]

OK, did anyone mention bazmaward from "A Baghdad Cookery Book" for things served in a bread loaf? It's almost identical to the chicken in bread loaf from Sicily; both dishes call for loaves of bread, hollowed out, stuffed with cooked meat and nuts pounded finely with liquid (vinegar and rosewater, in the case of bazmaward, straight lemon juice for the pasticcio; walnuts in the bazmaward, but almonds and pistachios for the Sicilian dish, as they are plentiful on that island). The main difference is that bazmwards are sliced "into medium elongated pieces" and packed into an earthenware dish with mint leaves, and the Sicilian dish is baked again on its own. But it is sliced and served cold like bazmaward, and like bazmaward, even better-tasting the next day. The pasticcio, because it is associated with ibn al-Thumna, seems to be a reworking of bazmaward for him by his creative cooks. But that will just have to be speculation because they did not leave us behind a recipe, and I am sure that the way it has descended to us these days leaves out things the original probably included. 

It definitely ain't soup or stew in a bread bowl, though.

And speaking of bread ... I am trying to ferret out the linguistic origin of mafalda, a Sicilian semolina bread encrusted with sesame seeds. 

Good pics of it, and a recipe, can be found here:

http://viewitaly.blogspot.com/2006/07/pane-siciliano-mafalda-sicilian-bread.html

And yes, mafalda is the basis of the New Orleans muffaletta sandwich, an early 20th century invention by a Palermitan immigrant. Good pics and a recipe here.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Muffaletta.htm

Damn. Now I am hungry.

Gianotta