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It's Carnevale (carnival time) in Italy. This is the time of the year when children dress up and rules (especially dietary ones) are meant to be broken. Everyone prepares sweet fritters and give them to each other as a gift. Their name is "castagnole", o little chestnuts, and they are deep fried in extra virgin olive oil at medium temperature (well below 150 C). Olive oil will give these little mini doughnuts crunchiness and lightness at the same time. The traditional recipe for these delicious little fritters calls for lemon zest and only a little sugar in the dough.
Castagnole for 6
3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, lemon zest, 240 g of flour. vanilla flavour (optional), icing sugar.
Mix eggs, sugar, olive oil, salt, finely chopped lemon zest and vanilla together. Add flour and keep mixing with a wooden spoon until mixture is sticky but firm. Deep fry in olive oil, putting only half a teaspoon of mixture in the frying pan at a time. They are ready when they get golden brown in colour. Serve with icing sugar to decorate.
