Frittelle Di San Giuseppe

I'm not always the best at observing the various feasts throughout the liturgical year, but we really made an effort for the Solemnity of Saint Joseph this year.  We celebrated Italian style with meatballs and gravy, pasta, peasant bread, salad and these lovely little fried fritters.  I'd never had these and obviously had never made them before so it was a bit of a risk, but it paid off.  These little confections were easy and delicious!  This is a recipe I adapted from A Continual Feast.

Rice Fritters for Solemnity of Saint Joseph

2 1/4 cups milk (I subbed So Delicious Coconut milk)

1 cup raw rice

pinch of alt

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs; beaten

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

zest of one lemon

zest of one orange

1 quart Oil for deep frying

Granulated sugar

Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add the rice, salt, vanilla, and sugar.  Cover and bring to a gentle simmer.  Cook until rice is cooked and the milk is absorbed(I checked after about 20 minutes and then gave it about 5 more minutes to finish).  Cool the rice mixture for at least several hours.

Mix the rice thoroughly with the eggs, flour, baking powder, and zest.  Heat oil in a large heavy pot for deep frying to 375 degrees. Using a tablespoon or a small cookie disher (they work great for this application), drop mixture into oil several at a time and fry until golden brown.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain and then roll in sugar (I added more zest to the granulated sugar and that was quite lovely too).  Serve immediately.  Makes 25 tablespoon servings or about 36 small disher servings.