Carnival fritters

There are certain times of the year when both children and adults want to have fun and relax, usually during the most important festival days when there is no shortage of opportunities to enjoy some tasty culinary specialty – perhaps one you have been waiting all year to eat. How about Carnival time, dear friends of My Italian Recipes? Is it a time of year that fascinates you, and perhaps evokes pleasant memories and emotions? Carnival can provoke thoughts and feelings in many different ways depending on where you live, with some regions giving rise to more intense inspiration than others, as in the case of Venice, where colours and joy reign in every corner of this beautiful city. And it is by observing the joy of the festival in this Italian city that we got the idea of making carnival fritters a little differently from the norm, although still characterised by a genuine and authentic flavour: so let’s make this recipe we have created for you together...

First of all, soak the raisins. Beat the egg in a bowl with the sugar, a pinch of salt, the glass of rum and lemon zest (if you want you could use a food processor). Add the milk and mix well. Sift in the flour and add the yeast, a tablespoon at a time, to the mixture so as to avoid lumps. Add the raisins and softened butter to the mixture. Fill a wok or deep fryer with oil and bring it up to temperature. You now have two options: the more traditional one is to use 2 spoons to make round fritters; or, alternatively, do as I did and put the batter into a pastry bag (which if you don’t have one you can use a freezer bag) and make rough little balls – in both cases pouring the contents into the boiling oil. The more imaginative the shape of the fritters, the more fun the result! Let your fritters turn golden brown, turning occasionally. Then dry them on paper towels. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar. I suggest eating your fritters with blueberry jam or berries, as I once did in a cabin in Dobbiaco.