Here we are again with a nice recipe (you can find it in my book Eating heart): I FRISCEU. Unfortunately the Ligurian cuisine is not as renowned as other Italian regional cuisines, but instead it offers a great variety of dishes that go well beyond the famous Pasta with Pesto.
This simple but very tasty appetizer is fun to make and usually it has a great success among the diners.
As many dishes it has a very poor origin and it’s made out of ingredients you can’t miss in your kitchen.
As much as fried food is considered bad for your health, now and then a little sin is acceptable: my grand father, who lived until 100 years, used to tell me that you have to eat very carefully, both in quality and in quantity, but you have to taste a good meal once in while to make your stomach understand that it’s not allowed to get lazy, even if you treat it like a lord on an everyday basis!!!!
So throw away all your hesitation and light the fire under the oil!!!!
All you need is:
300 gr of flour
350 ml of fizzy water, very cold and from a new bottle
1 tsp of salt
7 gr of baker’s yeast
1tbsp of olive oil
Dissolve the yeast in a few tbsp of warm water and then mix it in to the other ingredients. Put this batter in the fridge to rest a while (minimum ½ an hour). The batter should be fairly firm. Add 1 or 2 tsp of chopped parsley (but you can use other herbs or spices if you like, for us it’s almost impossible not to have some at home!!!). You can also experiment with other ingredients like onion or cheese, provided they are chopped fine. Fry small spoonfuls of batter in abundant boiling oil, remembering not to do too many at a time (4 or 5 should take only a few seconds to swell up and rise to the surface like inflatable dolphins.) Scoop them out with a skimmer and place on kitchen paper to absorb residual oiliness. Salt just before eating and serve hot. My suggestion is to use peanuts oil: it has the same qualities of olive oil (frying wise) but it’s much less expensive.
Buon appetito!
Elisabetta
Check out me and my sister as we start the frying process!:
Photos:©Tosca Radigonda
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