Fritelle da Imperadore Magnifici
Emperor's Magnificient Fritters
Cheese & Pinenut Fritters
Source: Libro di cucina del secolo XIV, 14th century.
Original Recipe:
Fritelle da Imperadore Magnifici
Se tu voy fare fritelle de Imperadore, toi la chiara de l’ova e fete de formazo frescho, e batille cum la chiara de l’ova, e mitige un pocho de farinaq e pignoli mondi. Toy la padella cum assay onto, falo bolire e fay le fritelle. Quando sono cocte, polverizali ben zucharo e tienli caldi, etc..
Translation: (from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy)
The Emperor’s Magnificent Fritters
If you want to make the Emperor’s fritters, take egg whites and slices of fresh cheese, and beat them together with the egg whites, and add a little flour and hulled pine nuts. Take a pan with plenty of fat, bring it to the boil, and make the fritters. When they are cookded, sprinkle them with plenty of sugar and keep them hot, etc.
And if by chance you do not have any pork fat, use good oil. And similarly, if you don’t want to use sugar, use some good honey.
My Interpretation:
½ pound Ricotta cheese
3 ea Egg white
2 tablespoon Pine nuts
5 tablespoon Flour
¼ cup Sugar
Canola Oil, for frying
Mix cheese and egg whites together, beat until well blended then stir in pine nuts. Drop cheese mixture into hot frying oil. Cook until golden brown. Drain and sprinkle with sugar.
Sources:
The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy; Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, & Silvano Serventi, translated to the English by Edward Schneider; The University of Chicago Press, 1998