Ricotta fritters with almond custard and strawberries in balsamic vinegar

We recently hosted a couple of (loosely) Italian themed supper clubs. For dessert I made ricotta fritters, served hot, straight from the sizzling oil, with a dollop of almond custard and strawberries tossed in a splash of balsamic vinegar. I hope the rate at which the fritters were devoured was an indication of how yummy they were (rather than people desperately wanting an awful experience over and done with!).

Most elements of the recipe can be done ahead of time, so all that's needed is some last minute frying of fritters. Enjoy!


Almond custard
From Tobie Puttock's "Daily Italian"
You can make the custard 1-2 days before serving. This quantity is plenty for 4-6 people.

500ml milk
4 egg yolks (the yellower the better!)
4 tablespoons sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
50g ground almonds

Heat the milk in a saucepan. When it comes to the boil, remove from the heat, cover and keep warm.

Fill a medium saucepan half way with water and bring to the boil. Using a bowl that fits comfortably on top of the saucepan, add egg yolks and sugar. Place the bowl on top of the saucepan of boiling water and whisk the eggs and sugar over the heat until the mixture thickens and becomes creamy.

Slowly add the warm milk, whisking, and then add lemon zest. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens. It feels like this takes forever! I admit I don't whisk continuously, because it is boring. Remember that the custard will thicken further once it cools.

Remove from the heat and stir through the ground almonds. Leave to cook and keep in a sealed container in the fridge - remove about 30 minutes before serving, so it's not too chilled.

Strawberries in balsamic vinegar
Serves about 6

1 punnet strawberries, sliced
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Slice the strawberries - you can do this during the day of your dinner.

When you put the oil on to heat for the ricotta fritters, add the icing sugar and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar to the strawberries and toss. Leave to absorb while you cook the fritters.


Honey syrup
15g sugar
1 tablespoon honey
juice of half a lemon and a strip of peel
1 cinnamon stick

Put all ingredients in a saucepan with half a cup of water and bring to the boil. Stir so that the sugar dissolves. Simmer for about 5 minutes and then leave to cool. This can be made 1-2 days before serving, and kept in the fridge. It will keep for at least a week.

Ricotta fritters
Based closely on Tobie Puttock's recipe from "Daily Italian"
Makes about 20 fritters, which is enough for 6-8 greedy friends

400g fresh ricotta
3 eggs
6 tablespoons of caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1.5-2 lemons
a pinch of bicarb soda
5 tablespoons of sultanas
200g plain flour

about a litre of vegetable oil
icing sugar for dusting (and honey syrup, recipe above)

Make the batter during the day of your dinner and keep refrigerated. Take out of fridge about 30 minutes before you make the fritters.


Drain the ricotta of excess moisture and beat or whisk until smooth, then add remaining ingredients and mix well.  


Heat the vegetable oil in a medium sized saucepan until a pinch of flour sizzles when dropped in the oil. Using 2 spoons, spoon balls of dough into the oil and fry - they can be as big or small as you'd like, but I aimed for a small meatball size. You need to move them around a little with a slotted spoon and when they are golden brown, remove onto kitchen paper. You can cook about 6-8 at once in a medium sized frying pan.

Drizzle fritters with the honey syrup and dust generously with icing sugar.


Serve the fritters hot along side the cold custard and strawberries and let people help themselves.