This is sumptuous and extremely varied, with a pleasing combination of sweet and savory. It's ideally suited for an important occasion, and will work best with a good Dolcetto or unoaked Barbera. The organ meats may be hard to find, but will add variety. If you chose not to include them increase the other meats, or add something else, for example slices of turkey breast and chicken drumsticks. The important thing is that there be balance...
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 6 lamb chops with ribs, pounded
- 6 rabbit legs, pounded
- 6 thin slices veal (scaloppine will work), pounded
- 6 pieces sausage (you'll want sweet Italian pork sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 6 slices of liver
- A beef testicle
- A strip of beef morrow
- 10 ounces (250 g) calf brains
- 2 artichokes
- 2 zucchini, and 6 zucchini blossoms if you like them
- 2 carrots
- An eggplant
- A fennel bulb
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 porcini mushrooms (substitute with portabellas if need be)
- 6 soft amaretti (purchase these made fresh from a bakery)
- 2 apples
- A peach (canned if need be)
- 1 pound of sweet semolino (see recipe link below)
- 10 eggs
- Flour
- Bread crumbs
- Olive oil for frying (or the oil of choice)
Preparation:
... You don't want too much of one sort of food type and not enough of another. Therefore, if you'd rather not use the testicle, think about using sweetbreads instead. The other important trick is to use several pots of oil so you can fry the various things simultaneously, and thus have them all done and properly hot at the same time.
As promised, the recipe for Sweet fried Semolino. And what to do with everything else?
Boil the calf brains and the testicles for five minutes in lightly salted water, then drain them, cool them under running water, peel the brains, and cut the meat into pieces about an inch in diameter.
Prepare the artichokes (see instructions if need be), quarter them, and put them in lightly acidulated water.
Slice the remaining vegetables into 1/4-inch slices, lengthwise. Peel and core the fruit and slice it too.
Cut the semolina into diamonds about an inch across.
Lightly beat the eggs. Dredge each piece of meat, vegetable, fruit, and semolina in the flour, then the egg, and finally the bread crumbs, and fry them.
Dredge the amaretti, brains, and beef marrow just in the egg and fry the pieces.
Fry the pieces of sausage, testicle and liver in the oil without dredging them.
Drain everything well on absorbent paper, arrange the pieces on a serving platter, salt them, and serve them quite hot.
Note: Fritto Misto alla Lombarda is quite similar. Rather than plain sausage it uses the traditional luganega sausage, and omits both amaretti and semolina. On the other hand, it includes cock's combs, kidneys, and lung -- "an ancient dish that now many make without the offal, preferring to give more space to meats, fruit, and exotic vegetables," writes Alessandro Molinari Pradelli in La Cucina Lombarda. "But the Lombard tradition took great pleasure from enjoying the less noble parts, fried."
A couple other things to include in a Fritto Misto alla Piemontese:
As promised, the recipe for Sweet fried Semolino. And what to do with everything else?
Boil the calf brains and the testicles for five minutes in lightly salted water, then drain them, cool them under running water, peel the brains, and cut the meat into pieces about an inch in diameter.
Prepare the artichokes (see instructions if need be), quarter them, and put them in lightly acidulated water.
Slice the remaining vegetables into 1/4-inch slices, lengthwise. Peel and core the fruit and slice it too.
Cut the semolina into diamonds about an inch across.
Lightly beat the eggs. Dredge each piece of meat, vegetable, fruit, and semolina in the flour, then the egg, and finally the bread crumbs, and fry them.
Dredge the amaretti, brains, and beef marrow just in the egg and fry the pieces.
Fry the pieces of sausage, testicle and liver in the oil without dredging them.
Drain everything well on absorbent paper, arrange the pieces on a serving platter, salt them, and serve them quite hot.
Note: Fritto Misto alla Lombarda is quite similar. Rather than plain sausage it uses the traditional luganega sausage, and omits both amaretti and semolina. On the other hand, it includes cock's combs, kidneys, and lung -- "an ancient dish that now many make without the offal, preferring to give more space to meats, fruit, and exotic vegetables," writes Alessandro Molinari Pradelli in La Cucina Lombarda. "But the Lombard tradition took great pleasure from enjoying the less noble parts, fried."
A couple other things to include in a Fritto Misto alla Piemontese:
- Carne Farcita alla Delfina Tasty fried meat and cheese sandwiches.
- Frittura di Mele o Pere alla Contadinesca Apple or pear fritters, which will provide pleasant contrast in a fritto misto or work well as a snack.
