Crescentine fritti

45 MINUTES + RISING | SERVES 4 | EASY

lard 500g

milk 150ml

fast-action dried yeast 1 tsp

‘00’ or plain flour 250g

squacquerone, stracchino, stracciatella, burrata, curd cheese or ricotta 250g

thinly sliced prosciutto, culatello, coppa or mortadella 200g

To make the crescentine, warm 2 tbsp of the lard in the milk until it just melts. Allow it to cool until tepid, then dissolve the yeast in the milk. Mix the flour with 1 tsp of salt, then add the milk and knead to a supple dough.

Leave the dough to rise, covered, until doubled in size. Roll it out on a floured worksurface to 6mm thick and cut into 8cm x 11cm diamonds. You need four, but the recipe is enough for five. Allow these to prove a second time for an hour at room temperature or for between six to 24 hours in the fridge, until risen to double their height.

When you are ready to eat, fry the crescentine – they must be served piping hot and crisp from the pan. Heat the remaining lard in a wide, deep pan over a medium heat to 170C or until a cube of bread browns in 40 seconds, at a depth of about 21/2cm. Before you fry the crescentine, pull each lengthways and crossways to increase by about a third in length – this makes them the right size but also stretches out the bubbles making them puff up more consistently. Lower them carefully, flat, into the hot fat. Do not crowd the pan – you will probably need to cook them one at a time. Fry the crescentine for 2 minutes on each side, until golden and puffed.

Arrange the crescentines either on individual plates or together on a platter or board to share from. This is a homely dish, and does not stand on ceremony, other than to pop the cork of a carefully selected and well-chilled sparkling lambrusco.

PER SERVING 707 kcals | fat 43.6G saturates 20.6G | carbs 51.4G | sugars 3.5G fibre 2.5G | protein 26.2G | salt 3.8G