Fried ricotta flat-bread & parsley anchovy sauce

I just dislike myself writing about carbs... again, and deep-frying... again. But how can I not to? This flat bread (gnocco fritto alla ricotta) is incredibly delicious! It may remind our Indian blogger of their bhatura as they're both done in the same way - rolling a small dough to a big flat circle, then deep-fry, the bread will puff up like a balloon!

I am not afraid of deep frying. Unlike frying fish or meat, dough usually doesn't cause oil splatter (much). If you have a wok at home, use it; it has a higher wall (block some splatters) and a curve base (you pour less oil than in frying pan for the same 2"-depth).

This parsley sauce is called salsa verde, means green sauce in Italian. Green sauces were an entire category centuries ago, are generally uncooked, varied by adding anchovies and/capers to taste. People use to accompany it with boiled and poached dishes, but the new Italian cooking seems not to be rigid with it. Anyway, serving it with this bread is suggested by Sale & Pepe - Grandi Fritti all' Italian, I tried it, and I liked it.

Recipe of fried ricotta flat-bread (yield: 4.5-inch-dia. bread, 8 - 9 pcs)

*scaled down the recipe from Sale & Pepe - Grandi fritti all' Italiana*

• 1 2/3 cups plain flour
• 5 Tbps ricotta
• 1 egg yolk
• milk as needed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Combine all the ingredients, and knead briefly until the dough is smooth. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes. Divide it into smaller portions, about the size of walnut, roll each to a flat circle, 1/8" thick. In between rollings you should cover and let the dough rest 2 more times so that it won't resist to spread. Pour 2"-deep oil in wok, preheat. Fry dough, due to the size you may only do one at a time, over medium/ medium-low heat until both sides golden. Drain. Serve immediately with sauce to your choice. Go plain is great too.

Recipe of parsley anchovy sauce

*adopted the recipe of salsa verde from The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli*

• 1 small slice of country bread soften by soaking in wine vinegar
• A bunch of Italian parsley, leaves only.
• 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 hard-boil egg, yolk only
• 3 anchovy fillets in oil, drain
• some olive oil

Chop parsley and garlic together until very very fine. Then transfer them to a bowl, add bread (squeezed out the vinegar first), anchovy and yolk, mashed by a spoon, keep adding (little by little) olive oil while stir the mixture until it emulsifies.

I didn't like the sauce's texture that done by a blender. The method stated above yields a satisfactory result to me.

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