Frittelle di Melanzane e Mentuccia Selveggia di Lampedusa
There is wild tufted mint between the megalithic stones of its befogged and silent fields. And Africa whispers up sultry winds, caressing the place, adding to the sensation of faraway. This is the island of Giovanni di Lampedusa, author of Il Gattopardo, The Leopard. It is a mystical space etched by the ancients, one after another of them who, having stayed for a while, imprinted it, abandoned it, to its own muffled secrets and to the great lumbering turtles and seals who live there still. Surely not Italy, not, perhaps, Sicilia nor even Africa, it is somewhere else, this Lampedusa. Inhabited, finally, without interruption since 1843, when the king Ferdinando II came to claim it, a family descended from this settlement was once our host. The children and their nanny showed us the best, most secret places to collect the wild mint of which we’d grown so fond, we making a salad of its leaves and other wild grasses when enough of it could be foraged. One afternoon, after a particularly good harvest, we emptied our pockets of it onto the kitchen table, thinking we’d all feast on it at dinner, and went upstairs to bathe and rest. Later, the loveliest of perfumes told us that the mint had been seized by the cook and that she’d done something magnificent with it and tomatoes. Here follows a version of her gorgeous frittelle.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
The Sauce
The Frittelle
Preparation
The Sauce
Step 1
Over a medium flame, heat the oil in a large saucepan and soften the garlic and onion without coloring them. Add the tomatoes, their juices, the red wine, generous grindings of pepper and sea salt. Bring to a quiet simmer, lower the flame, and permit it to cook and reduce for 1/2 hour or until the tomatoes have reduced to a jam and the wine has all but evaporated.
Step 2
Off the flame, add the just-torn herbs, stirring them into the thick sauce Cover the pot and permit the sauce at least 1 hour’s rest.
The Frittelle
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Step 4
Slice the eggplants in two lengthwise, brush the cut surfaces with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and roast them until the flesh is very soft. Remove the eggplants from the oven and cool them slightly.
Step 5
Scrape the flesh of the eggplants into a bowl. In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process the eggplant flesh, one-third to one-half at a time, smoothing it into a thick paste. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil through the feed tube in driblets, emulsifying, enriching the paste. Turn out the paste into a large bowl and add to it the bread crumbs, cheese, generous grindings of pepper, salt, cinnamon, raisins, mint, and basil. Add 3 of the beaten eggs and blend the elements well, using your hands or a large wooden spoon. The resultant paste should be light. Lacking that airy texture, add the remaining egg and blend again very thoroughly. Sauté a bit of the paste, tasting for salt and correcting if necessary.
Step 6
Form the paste into 3-inch ovals of about 1 inch in thickness. Dust them lightly with flour. Over a lively flame, heat the remaining 3/4 cup of oil in a large sauté pan and in it cook the little cakes, a few at a time, permitting them to form a bit of a crust before turning them and browning the other side. As they are cooked, remove the frittelle to absorbent paper towels. Add a few drops more of oil if the cakes begin to stick. Proceed with the remaining cakes. Alternatively, the fritters can be quickly deep-fried in abundant oil.
Step 7
Present the fritters immediately on a plate spread with the reheated or room-temperature sauce, offering more sauce at table. You might begin with olive nere e verdi con aglio intero al forno (page 191). When gorgeous tomatoes are not to be found, the fritters are also quite wonderful with a only a tiny spoonful of a lemony vinaigrette.
