Soft lemon Frittelle: the true Carnival taste

Veneto region can brag about millions of different recipes, which Italy and the rest of the world can only envy: in fact every festivity, wether it’s big or small, has its own representative recipe or its traditional desserts. For example, when we talk about Carnival there are many typical sweets that immediately come to mind such as “chiacchiere” or “frappe” but, the Carnival dessert par excellence is them: frittelle or soft “fritoe”, which need to be tried in all their variations.

Carnival frittelle usually follow the classic Venetion recipe and that means when they are filled with raisins and pine nuts but nowadays, year after year, these easy Carnival desserts are found also filled with custard, nutella, pistachio cream and sometimes also with lemon, as in this case.

Despite all these modern variations, the history behind these Carnival sweets is dated back on the second half of the 14th century and some testimonies reveal that, right during Carnival time, these soft frittelle were prepared from the “fritoleri” in small wooden shacks right along the street. The traditional recipe of these Carnival sweets required the dough to be worked on large wooden boards and that it was composed of eggs, flour, sugar, raising and pine nuts and then fried in olive oil. After cooking the Carnival frittelle were served still warm and covered in powered sugar (this is something that we still do nowadays).

We can say that the classic frittella is not only a simply delicious typical Carnival sweet but it is a true cornerstone of the Italian tradition and cuisine.

Here at Frantoio Bonamini, always because we are deeply connected and loyal followers of the traditions or our land, we have decided to add that extra touch to this small fried Carnival sweets and not only by using extra virgin olive oil while making them but also by flavoring it so we were able to create these soft lemon frittelle.

Soft lemon frittelle, the tasty recipe for your Carnival

Ingredients 

• 4 eggs
• 80 gr sugar
• 40 gr extra virgin olive oil Or De Noires or Garda D.O.P. or Lemon Olive Oil
• 50 gr milk
• 280 gr flour
• 1 sachet of vanilla yeast
• Lemon zest
• Powered sugar
• Evo Oil San Felice for frying (more on how to use extra virgin olive oil for frying here: https://shop.oliobonamini.com/en/blog/2021/07/08/voglia-improvvisa-di-friggere-ecco-che-olio-usare-in-cucina/)

Preparation

1. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar.
2. With a fork (not with an electric whisk) mix all together and in the meantime add the milk, the olive oil chose between Or De Noires or Garda D.O.P. (if you want to stick to the classic recipe) or the lemon infused olive oil (if you want to try the Bonamini recipe). Either way we recommend to use some lemon zest to donate that very pleasant citrus flavor.
3. When the mixture is smooth enough, add the flour and mix all together trying to not create clumps and forming a uniform batter.
4. When the dough is ready, add the yeast and try to sprinkle it all over it, always making sure to whisk.
5. Meanwhile put San Felice evo oil in a frying pan and heat it to get it ready for when it’s frying time.
6. When the soft lemon frittelle dough is ready, divide it into small-medium size balls and start frying them by soaking them in boiling extra virgin olive oil until they look swollen and golden brown.
7. Drain them and put these Canival sweets on some paper towels to drain them from the excess oil.
8. Let them cool down for a bit and serve the soft frittelle while still warm and sprinkled with powered sugar.

Do you want to know our last and final advice to get the best soft lemon frittelle?

Like all the other fried Carnival desserts it’s always best to eat the frittelle while freshly fried. when still nice warm and crunchy.
Furthermore, it is good thing to not fry too many soft frittelle all together but to leave some space between one and the other to turn them around while frying in the olive oil. It is also advisable to turn down the flame between one batch and the other so not to burn the oil that’s frying and to keep it at a costant temperature.

As last thing we would like to give you all two more pairing advice which go along with our Carnival frittelle:

• Lemon can be easily replaced with orange, either we are talking about the peel/zest or about the fresh Bonamini orange infused olive oil
• As good Venetians we can not miss the chance to tell you that the best thing to do while eating these lemon frittelle is also having a glass of wine in the meantime; it can be sparkling like our Cort’Emilia Bonamini Prosecco Extra Dry or it can be a bolder one like our Amarone della Valpolicella, always from the Cort’Emilia Bonamini wineline.