La cucina di nonna Menna: frittelle di mela / Apple fritters

Eccomi di ritorno dalla Puglia, mi devo ancora riprendere dalle mangiate!
La versione Italiana delle frittelle di mela è su Made in Kitchen!



Think about Tuscan cakes and sweet things. What comes in your mind? Maybe panforte, Siena ricciarelli, cantuccini and vinsanto, castagnaccio… these are all traditional elements.
But for my family? Which are our typical puddings? So I closed my eyes and I started thinking at granny: granny baking something sweet, making something to cuddle me, to strengthen me (as a child, believe me or not, I was skinny!), to conquer my greedy child heart.
So I came across my birthday cakes, soft sponge cake filled with custard crème and chocolate, or zuppa inglese, my favourite sweet thing during child tea time in winter.
Then the sweet and delicate flavour of apple fritters came into my mind: granny used to make them when I was a little child, when I used to sleep next to the stove, when I was ill at home from school, wrapped in a woolly blanket.
They used to be our comfort food since my father told me he always had apple fritters when, as a child, he was ill at home.


No wonder at all: just eggs and apples, you surely have them in a country house, don’t you?
When my sister was a child, we changed cake since her favourite one was a rolled thin sponge cake with custard crème: what a fun and chatty little girl, but sooo picky!
And so, after many years, granny and I decided to make them again, our apple fritters… and I suddenly found myself a child, wrapped in a heavy woolly blanket, cuddled by my grandma with hugs and sweet things.


::::: APPLES FRITTERS :::::

• Golden apples, 2
• egg, 1
• flour, 2 tablespoons
• beer, 2 tablespoons
• salt, 1 pinch
• extra virgin olive oil, 1 just under a tablespoon
• icing sugar
• olive oil to fry

Whip the egg in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, flour, extra virgin olive oil and beer: if needed, add a tablespoon of water to make a smooth but not too liquid batter. It is supposed to wrap up the apples, not to slip down!
Peel the apples, core them paying attention not to break them and cut the apples into thin horizontal slices of 1 cm.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. The right moment to fry the apples is when the oil starts to smoke, as grandma says. Dip the apple slices into the batter and fry in the hot oil until cooked through and golden on both sides.
Transfer the cooked apples to a plate lined with paper towel. Sprinkle with some icing sugar and serve warm.