When it comes to Mardi Gras, the name alone implies indulgence. During this time of year, Italians fry just about everything.
Here are some recipes so you can try them at home – or you can just keep the names handy for your next trip.
Chiacchiere napoletane
Chiacchiere can be traced back to ancient Rome. During the Saturnalia celebrations, an ancient festival held every December, frictilia, or sweets fried in pork fat, were handed out in the street.
Today, chiacchiere are known all over Italy, and they go by different names and recipe varieties (bugie, galani, cenci or frappe), but the Neapolitan style chiacchiere is among the most famous. Their origins date back to Queen Margherita of Savoy (the ruler also credited for the invention of the pizza margherita), a queen so greedy and chatty that she ordered her cook to create a dessert to fit her indulgent conversations with friends. (Chiacchiere means chat.)
Chiacchiere napoletane recipe
For about 100 chiacchiere, you will need:
1 lb. of flour plus a little bit for dusting
½ cup milk
½ stick melted butter
¼ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. white grappa
2 large egg yolks
lemon
peanut oil
salt
Form a well in the flour on a pastry board. Put the egg yolks and powdered sugar in the center and begin mixing with your fingers.
Add the melted butter, wine, and grappa followed by the grated rind of half a lemon. Then add ½ tsp. of salt and milk. Mix ingredients well.
Incorporate all the flour gradually, little by little as you knead the dough. Knead for about 10 minutes or until silky and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for about two hours.
After two hours, tear off a part of the dough, leaving the rest covered to keep the dough from drying out. Dust with flour and roll the dough piece out with your fingers. Roll out with a pasta machine or with a rolling pin. If you use a pasta machine, start by adjusting it to the thickest setting.
Then fold the dough a couple of times until you get the thickness you see below – and so on and so forth until your dough sheets are paper-thin (about 1 mm).
Place the sheets of pasta on a floured tabletop. Trim the edges with a notched pastry cutter. Cut into many rectangles (ours are about 6x9cm - 2.5x3.5″). Make a vertical cut of 3 cm (a little over 1″) in the center of each rectangle, without cutting the edge.
Heat plenty of oil in a large saucepan, and before you start cooking, test the oil by dropping in a piece of the pasta. As soon as it starts to fry, the oil is ready. If instead, you have a probe thermometer, start frying once the oil has reached 320°F.
Fry the chiacchiere until golden-brown – about 30 seconds on each side. Drain the chiacchiere on paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Graffe
Graffe are sweet fried treats found in Campania bars and pastry shops year-round, and Carnival is one of the best occasions to prepare them at home.
Graffe recipe
Ingredients:
2 lb. Manitoba flour
1 lb. boiled potatoes
10 oz. whole eggs
5 oz. sugar
½ cup milk
¾ stick butter
2 Tbsp. brewer's yeast
1 tsp. salt
cinnamon and sugar to taste
Knead all the ingredients except the salt in a stationary mixer until the dough is smooth and easily peels off the sides.
Add the salt and knead for another 10 minutes. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of ⅓″, cup with your hands to create the necessary size and use your thumb to poke a hole in the center for the typical graffe shape.
Let the dough rise until doubled in volume.
Fry in lard or hot seed oil. Drain and dip in cinnamon and sugar.
Sanguinaccio
It's not really Carnival until the chiacchiere are dipped in black pudding. This ancient recipe originates from Campania's cibo povero (peasant cuisine) traditions, and it's also popular in Basilicata and Calabria. After the pig slaughter in January and February, the blood (sangue in Italian) was collected and combined with cocoa, sugar, and spices. Today, pig's blood is no longer used for black pudding – The practice has been prohibited since 1992.
Sanguinaccio recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 oz. bitter cocoa
5 oz dark chocolate
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
¾ stick butter
¼ cup raisins
cinnamon to taste
In a bowl, mix sugar, flour, cocoa, cinnamon, and cornstarch, then add the milk stirring carefully with a whisk to prevent lumps.
When the mixture is uniform, transfer it to a pot and add the dark chocolate in pieces, butter, and candied fruit and cook it over low heat until it thickens.
Once you have obtained a compact and shiny cream, pour the black pudding into an oven dish, cover it with the film and let it cool to room temperature.
Migliaccio
Migliaccio is a millet and ricotta cake with cibo povero (peasant cuisine) origins that is often prepared for Easter. Though semolina flour replaced traditional millet in modern times. And again, no more pig’s blood.
Migliaccio recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup semolina flour
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1 lb. ricotta
1 cup
4 large eggs
¾ stick butter
1 orange peel
1 vanilla pod
1 pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Pour milk, water, orange peel, and salt into a saucepan and cook over low heat. After five minutes, remove the orange peel and add the butter.
Then, pour in the semolina flour, sifting out any lumps. Stir until mixture thickens. Let cool and in the meantime, add the ricotta cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla pod. Stir until the mixture is smooth.
Combine the semolina mixture with the ricotta cheese mixture, stirring well.
Butter a 9″ diameter cake pan and pour the mixture into the mold. Bake until golden brown, remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.