Ham- and Cheese-Filled Brioche from Regaleali in Sicily

Anna Tasca Lanza is an old friend whose family’s ancestral home is the Regaleali wine estate near Caltanisetta in central Sicily. For many years the family’s estate has had a remarkable chef, Mario Lo Menzo, one of the last of a breed thoroughly trained in elaborate French-based cooking, who are called monzù (a corruption of the French monsieur). The monzù tradition began early in the nineteenth century, when many French chefs migrated to Napl