In Italy Carnevale, also known as carnival or mardi gras, is celebrated 40 days before Easter, a final party before Ash Wednesday and Lent. All across Italy there are many masked balls with lots of delicious foods to help celebrate and "fill up"before the restrictions of Lent. One of the most common things to eat is the festive Frappe which is a deep fried pastry with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar...yummmmm! This is my recipe for a very traditional Frappe which is based on my cannoli shell recipe..... Have a great Carnevale!
Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of salt
2 Tablespoons shortening cold
1 tablespoon butter cold
1/2 cup white wine
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk beaten
ice cold water as needed
1 quart oil for frying (I use canola)
Directions
To the flour, salt, and sugar add the butter/shortening and process or mash until the size of peas.
Add the whole egg and egg yolk in a well in the center.
Now add the wine and 1 tablespoon water, Mix until a stiff dough or knead by hand until a stiff dough. Add more water if needed as you may need up to 4 tablespoons.
Once a ball forms knead by hand for a good 8 minutes by hand or do all this in a food processor or kitchen aid.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Heat the oil up to 375.
Lightly flour the counter and roll out the dough as thin as you can without breaking like you do for making pasta.
Using a pasta cutter or small pizza cutter cut it into strips 1 1/2 inch wide and about 6 inches long. Take each strip and make a single knot in the center. Or you can cut them smaller 1" by 3" and leave them straight, I think they are not as pretty this way but are more crispy.
Fry a few at a time until golden ,these fry quickly, then drain on paper towels and sprinkle with powdered sugar right away.I think these are best after they are cooled, they seem to be crispier this way, so go ahead and make them ahead of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment