Frittelle di ricotta/Ricotta cheese fritters

Difficulty:  Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 4 persons):

• - 120 g caster sugar
• - 2 egg whites
• - 50 g pine nuts
• - 80 g not-raising plain flour (‘00’)
• - 200 g of ricotta cheese
• - salt
• - peanut oil – to fry

WHAT TO DO:

• 1. Sift out the flour in a plastic bowl and add 20g of sugar, a pinch of salt and the whites of the two eggs. Mix everything carefully until the mix is homogeneous (so try to avoid lumps). This is the fritelle mix.
• 2. In a small saucepan roast the pine nuts until they colour slightly brown. Let them cool down first before grinding them into smaller bits. Then add them to the frittelle mix.
• 3. In the meanwhile, bring the oil to high heat in a frying pan. When ready gently toss a tablespoon of the mix in the pan and wait until they colour gold/brown. If they do, take them out from the oil and drain them with a perforated spoon, dry them on a kitchen paper to remove some of the grease.
• 4. Roll them on the rest of the sugar and eat them immediately!

TIPS & TRICKS

• - Frittelle are Venetian doughnuts often served during Carnival. They are similar to bomboloni , which are also round and fried pastries. You can find them all over Italy with different names and different ways to make them, such as with raisins or apples and/or cream inside. We only eat them during Carnival while bomboloni is a kind of pastry you can find in Pasticcerie all year round. This version with ricotta cheese is not very traditional but is getting more and more common. Try it!
• - They could be nice also with small dark chocolate bits or raisins added to the mix.