Growing up in England in the sixties, it was common to see a pot of cooking oil on the range top in which to makes the “chips” – french fries. We were all taught to smother an oil fire rather than throw water on it. Deep frying was that common. Today, I get squeamish just thinking of that much cooking oil in one place, let alone keeping it around for weeks on end to use over and over again.
This BBC Food recipe began life as a deep-fried dough “fritter”. It was my intention to make these on a lightly-greased griddle, but the batter is thick and I decided to use a half inch of oil and flip them mid-fry. The result is a crispy outside and soft melty interior, with a deep lemony flavor. For those who have had English-style pancakes with sugar and lemon juice, it will come as a glorious – if not rich – surprise.
Lemon Ricotta Fritters
1/2 C ricotta
1 eggs lightly beaten
1 T milk
1 T sugar
1 lemon, zested
1/3 plain flour
1 t baking powder
vegetable oil, for frying
For the lemon-honey syrup
2 T sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 C water
1 T honey
Make the Lemon-honey syrup so that it can cool before you serve the fritters.
Put the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring it slowly to the boil.
Add the honey and simmer for 2-3 mins. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.
Combine the ricotta, eggs, milk, sugar and the lemon zest.
Sift the flour and baking powder into the ricotta mix and stir gently to combine.
Fill a pan with 1/2″ of oil and heat to a medium heat.
Carefully drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture into the hot oil (this is easiest done with two spoons, using
the second spoon to scrape the mixture off the first).
Fry for about 2-3 mins, until golden, turning once during cooking.
Remove the fritters from the pan with a slotted spoon, transfer them to some kitchen towel to remove as much of the frying oil as possible.
Sprinkle the fritters with powdered sugar and drizzle over the orange-honey syrup.
Enjoy!
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