February is the month of carnivals, especially in Europe… It involves public celebrations, street parties, parades, dancing and wearing masks and costumes.
Carnival is the festive season that occurs before the Christian season of Lent. Because catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called this festival “Carnevale” which means “removing of meat” , from their diet that is. So what they did was have big parties, eat and drink just before the Lent started. This tradition dates back to hundreds and hundreds of years ago and in those days there was another reason for these feasts and that was the winter coming to an end. People used to slaughter the animals before winter started and kept them in cold rooms to preserve as they did with the other animal products they used to make. So the weather getting warmer meant that they could no longer preserve these and they had feasts to use up whatever animal product they had before it all got bad.
This traditional festival is celebrated in every town and village of Italy a little differently from each other as it takes shape depending on their individual history and religious events.
The recipe that I’m going to share with you today is the “Chiacchiere”. Literally chit chat, they are the most popular sweet treats of the carnival. It is said that the crunch they make when eating is similar to ladies chattering :):)
It is a very simple recipe made of basic ingredients but you will love it and won’t want to stop eating.
The dough is similar to that of fresh pasta with the addition of a little sugar and some aromas as well as some sort of spirit, the most common one being grappa. This can change in different areas of Italy and it isn’t unusual to use marsala, white wine, rum or cognac instead. But you don’t have to use it, there has been times when I just forgot to add the spirit and had great results anyway. When we have our dough rested we roll it very thinly, cut into rectangles and fry before dusting with icing sugar.
- 240 gr flour
- 30-40 gr sugar
- 20 gr butter cut into cubes and at room temp.
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp grappa (optional)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- finely grated zest of an orange or lemon
- pinch of salt
- oil for frying
- powdered sugar
- Sift the flour onto the work top and make a well in the centre and add all the other ingredients.
- First whisk the eggs lightly with a fork then using your fingertips bring it all together. We can do this in a stand mixer.
- Knead for about 10 mins until you have a smooth dough, wrap in cling film and rest for 30 mins at room temperature.
- You can divide the dough into two-three pieces for ease of working and roll each piece to 2mm thickness using a rolling pin or the pasta machine if you have one (4-5 on a kitchen aid pasta roller)
- Cut the rolled dough into 4x2 inch rectangles and make a couple of little cuts in the middle of each piece.
- Heat the oil and without overcrowding the pot start frying the strips of dough, making sure you turn them round halfway through. Remove with a slotted spoon onto some kitchen paper and keep going until you fry them all.
- Once they are cool dust with icing sugar on both sides and enjoy.
The ideal temperature for the oil is 170-180 C (340-355 F). If it starts smoking it's become too hot, remove from heat for a couple of minutes.
If you are using a deep fat frier don't close the top. These pastries cook ever so quickly they'll get burnt by the time you opened the frier again, so it's best to keep an eye on them.
Luana says
Hati sei bravissimaaaaa,
mi hai fatto venire voglia di correre in cucina a farle 🙂
in questi giorni ci provo e poi ti faccio sapere e se mi vengono belle almeno la metà delle tue, metto anche la foto.
A presto 😀
Luana
Hati says
Grazie Luluuuuu