Ricotta fritters ‘alla puttanesca’

Ingredients

• 400 g fresh ricotta
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1½ tbsp baby capers
• 10 pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• 6 ‘Delicius’ Sicilian anchovies, roughly chopped
• 100 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 L frying oil
• ½ jar fresh basil sugo (see Note)
• 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated (e.g. using a microplane)
• Basil micro herb or fresh basil, to garnish

Chilling time: 10 minutes.

Instructions

1. Mix ricotta and eggs and stir well until combined. Add capers, olives and anchovies. Then add flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir, then chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large, shallow pan to 170-180°C. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of the chilled fritter mixture into the oil at the edge of the pan (this is where the oil is hottest).
3. Repeat, but only do a few fritters at a time. Shallow-fry for 4-5 minutes, until cooked through. Drain on a paper towel. Allow the oil to reheat between batches. Repeat until you run out of the mixture.
4. Bring basil sugo to a simmer and set aside.
5. Serve fritters in bowls: first add a layer of hot fresh basil sugo, place 3 fritters in each bowl, and dust with grated Parmigiano Reggiano and micro basil leaves.

Note

Luca uses his own ‘Chef Luca Ciano’ brand of basil sugo. For frying, he uses a blend of half Monini grapeseed oil and half Monini Classico.