During my stay in Italy, I met some really nice people, one of them, was Signora Antonella. The language problem was the only barrier that prevented me from interacting with these people.
Having spent over a decade in Italy, the only words and I don't mean sentences, that I could speak were" Buongiorno", "Buonasera", "Come state?" and "Grazie!". Now you can start a conversation with these words but you can't continue, can you?
So it turns out to be that Antonella is my youngest son's best friend's mother (lots of 's s here).
Last month she came to visit us and I was very happy that she had learnt a considerable amount of English, enough for us to communicate. Yippee!!. My Italian is still stuck on the ground floor though, so we had the chance to get to know about each other without the middle man, I mean an interpreter!
It was while we were chatting over a cup of tea that I asked her if she could contribute a traditional Italian recipe for my blog and she agreed without any hesitation. A few weeks later, I found two recipes in my inbox. Today I will share her first recipe which is Zeppole..
Zeppole are Italian donuts, that are made by deep frying choux dough mixture and then filled with pastry cream. According to Antonella this recipe is explicitly prepared on the 19th of March which is St Joseph's day in Italy. These scrumptous fritters are sold in bakeries and also presented as gifts on the 19th of March. Antonella says her nonna (grandma) used to prepare this for family and friends with great success. Now that she is no longer in this world her mother prepares it with the same method. Zeppole di San Giuseppe are luscious fritters that are a treat to make when you have invited some guests or if you are having a tea party.
Buon Appetito!
Prep Time: 30 mins☻ Cooking Time: 20 mins☻ Yield: 12-15☻ Cuisine: Italian Dessert
Ingredients:
IngredientsQuantiy
water1 cup
unsalted butter1/2 cup
all purpose flour1 cup
sugar1 tbsp
eggs 3
salta pinch
lemon zest1tsp
For The Pastry Cream :
Place a sauce pan over low heat with 250 ml whole milk. Add 1tsp of vanilla extract and 50 ml double cream. Leave to simmer on low heat for at least 5 mins. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 mins.Meanwhile start beating 3 egg yolks with 70g icing sugar. Now sprinkle in the 22g cornflour. Gradually pour the milk mixture over the egg mixture while whisking continuously. Now pour the
mixture back into the pan and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Method For The Choux Dough: Place a saucepan with water and butter on low heat.
Leave to simmer on low heat until the butter is melted.
Remove heat, add the flour all at once and beat vigorously. The flour will clump up and form a ball.
Cook on low heat until the mixture forms a thin film at the bottom.
Now remove from heat and leave to cool at room temperature. Once cool add the eggs one by one.
Beat well after each addition. Once mixed put in a bag and pipe with a star shaped nozzel attachment and pipe over the 4-5 inch parchment paper squares. Start piping from the center to the ends, its like making a disc with borders.
Fry in hot oil until the zeppole are light golden brown in color. Leave to drain on the paper towel.
Now pipe the prepared custard cream on the fried zeppole. Top with cherries and serve.
I hope you like this recipe, thanks to Antonella Antinori . If you have any traditional family recipe that you want to share, please feel free to do so and I will publish it on the blog with your name.
