Venice: A Carnival Mask, and a Recipe for Vanilla-Laced Apple Fritters

Fruit fritters are a delightful snack or dessert, and are among the classic Carnival treats too. This recipe calls for apples, but you can also use fresh pineapple, strawberries, bananas, pears, or peaches. To serve 6:

• 3 red delicious apples
• 4/5 cup (100 g) flour
• 4 eggs
• About a cup of milk
• 2/3 cup (70 g) sugar
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A lemon
• Confectioner's sugar
• Oil for frying

Heat 2/3 of the milk with a piece of lemon zest. Beat 3 of the yolks with half the sugar in a pot, and when the mixture is pale and frothy incorporate the starch and the vanilla. Remove the lemon zest from the milk and stir the milk into the sugar mixture; heat the cream gently, stirring gently, until it thickens some (do not let it boil lest it curdle), and then put the pot in a bowl of cold water to cool to the point of being simply warm.

Beat the remaining yolk with the remaining sugar, the flour, a pinch of salt, and about a third of a cup of milk. Mix until you have a smooth batter, which you will want to chill for about a half hour.

Core the apples and cut them into half-inch (1 cm) rounds; drizzle them with the juice of the lemon.

Beat an egg white to firm peaks and fold it into the batter. Dip the fruit in the batter and fry it until golden. Drain it on absorbent paper, dust the pieces with confectioner's sugar, and serve the fruit with the cream, which should be warm.

Carnival Recipes