We are in carnival flavor and for us of Hotel Torino, offering full board in Jesolo, it is essential to share some of the recipes of carnival sweets, according to the advice of our Chef Gigi.
The Veneto, and more than all Venice, are the Carnival homelands, and,therefore, they are one of the Lands which bake more Carnival cakes than any other Country , as in the break between one mask and the other,between a carnival float and the other, it is perfect to stop at a bakery for a hot tea, mulled wine and a carnival pancake.
We want to honor the classic Venetian pancake,called in Italian frittella, because today the pancakes are also and above all filled up with cream, chocolate, zabaglione, but the origin is the Venetian pancake, the one with raisins and often with pine nuts. ‘Ea friotoea’,it is the way it is called in Venice, and it is the undisputed Carnival sweet and the most important sweet during the Serenissima Republicwhen it was cooked by the ‘fritoleri’ in wooden stalls, and the ‘fritoleri’ who were specialized in cooking frittelle were so loved and important to arrive joining in a corporation or association.
The frittelle origins date back even to the fourteenth century, although there is also a Renaissance recipe. Think that the most serious and weel known bakeries and pastries in Venice, but also in Jesolo or in the mainland in general, prepare the frittelle only and exclusivelyin Carnival!We asked our Chef his recipe and, although the hotel is closed, we asked him to cook some frittelle for us . Here is his recipe:
Ingredients to get about 25 large pancakes
1 whole egg ( not cold)
160 grams of raisins and pine nuts
50 grams of sugar
40 grams of butter outside temperature, and soft
17 Grams of yeast
The peel of a lemon
If you want to add to the mix a dash of brandy or rum to give that extra flavor,no problem, dare !
Preparation
Warm the yeast in a few tablespoons of warm milk and pour in the remaining milk,prepare the butter in pieces.
Mix flour, eggs and grated lemon peel and create a pyramid with a central hole where you are going to pour the yeast, the milk, the egg and the chopped butter, brandy or rum if you want, and knead until dough is smooth, according to our Chef the dough should be a little bit sticky.
Unite raisins and pine nuts and knead again for a little bit down to give uniformity to the whole.
Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the turned off oven for an hour even with poor light on to create a kind some warmth
And now it’s time to fry:We at the hotel we use pallottolliere ice cream to create precise size balls, but nothing prohibits you to use your hands, pour in the oil to 160 170 degrees and fry them so they are quite dark and beautiful round
Once fried, place them on paper towels and let them roll on the joyous granulated sugar.Some use the powdered sugar, but we like the oldest recipe that requires the caster sugar
A sweet, a tradition, a long history of ‘fritoleri’ who with their white apron and riddled jar to throw sugar on pancakes, takes us back in time, in the Serenissima which, together with persiung power and money, did its best to seek pleasure and what more pleasant than one ‘fritoea’? Only two ‘fritoe’!