ROOTS & WINGS

11. Sa Coccoi (Sardinian Pumpkin fritters)

Yeeees, I admit it: I was at the bookstore again, couldn't walk past the cookbook section again and basically only bought the following cookbook based on THIS recipe:


Serena Loddo – Come a Casa


"Come a casa" is Italian for "Like at Home", or – in this context probably more fitting – "Home-cooked".


I know Serena because of her regular food docs/reports – where she travels Italy and eats / cooks with locals all over the country – for the WDR, the local TV chain of my Home-Bundesland, North Rhine-Westphalia. (So, when I spotted her book... ) Also she originates – as the recipe's English translation hints at – from Sardinia, the second-largest Italian island.


Anyway, enough with Semantics, and back to THESE!


Although savory, these babies are pretty healthy cause brimming with Mediterranean vegs / nutrients.


I warn you, though. It caught me totally off guard as the recipe actually reads pretty simple: if you're NOT a chef who chops like a machine, prepping will take you FOREVER. Because it's a LOT to chop VERY finely (sorry, NO shortcut).


But here I'm whining and complaining and ruining the mood by being so TYPICALLY German again, when I should RATHER pour myself an Aperol and go to – meditative – work with my fave (not necessarily Italian music) to feed my hungry WDC "bambini". SCUSA!


So have a nice Aperol (or summer drink of your choice) while joining me in the kitchen.




Serves: 12(+) fritters à 4.5 oz.

Prep Time: +/– 4 hrs That's what I meant with meditative "work" above.

Degree of Difficulty: Tedious but actually pretty simple




WE NEED


FRITTERS


500 gr / 1 lb 2 oz. butternut / hokkaido pumpkin. Used the latter as you DON'T have to peel it.
200 gr / 7 oz. red onions
300 gr / 10.6 oz. tomatoes
200 gr / 7 oz. Feta 48% fat, matured in brine

Rather optionally: 7-10 gr / 0.25 - 0.3 oz. fine sea salt I didn't use it as the feta was already salty like heck. ALSO, Serena says: careful with extra salt.

7 gr / 0.25 oz. live yeast
4-5 tbsp Olive oil try to get extra vergine, everything else is junk status
200 gr / 7 oz. flour If you can get your hands on it: traditional Italian pizza flour, Tipo 00



SOUR CREAM


500 gr / 1 lb 2 oz. cream cheese
200 gr / 7 oz. natural sour cream NOT flavored, sweetened or otherwise ruined
1 red onion
2+ garlic cloves
3-4 tbsp dark balsamico vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp (black) pepper
50 gr / 1.75 oz. fresh, frozen herbs Like my default mix of parsley, dill, cress, chervil, chives, sorrel, borage + pimpinella




WE DO

1. Wash (/ peel) the pumpkin and cut it into 1/5 in cubes. Wash + remove the stem base, and cube the tomatoes 1/5 in, too. Finely chop the onions. In the end, I finely "grated" the pumpkin cubes in the food blender. I'm not a total masochist. I did so, too, because Serena suggested it as then the texture of the end result is finer (/ smoother)

Put everything into a BIG bowl and crumble the feta on top. My biggest bowl was TOO small, and I had to use my biggest POT, instead. Add salt – sparsely! As mentioned – and thoroughly mix.


2. Dissolve the yeast in handwarm water – NOT above body temperature as that kills the yeast. – and add it to the veg-feta-mix with the olive oil. Portion-wise – 4 à 50 gr / 1.75 oz. – add the flour and knead until you have a supple dough => slightly sticky but still shapeable


3. Cover the bowl/pot and let it rest for 60-90 minutes.


4. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F top-bottom-heat – fan-convection okay, too, if your oven doesn't have that function – and line two baking sheets with baking paper.


5. Take portions of about 4.5 oz. – I measured them in a little bowl on the kitchen scale – and shape them into 1/2 in thick fritters, of which you place six on a baking sheet. Shall the dough stick too much, lightly wet your hands.


6. Bake them in the middle of the oven for 25-35 minutes OR until they're golden brown. Baking time depends on thickness. Also: MY oven took 45 minutes until they were done, and as every oven's different... just keep an eye on them Repeat with the second baking sheet.



7. For the sour cream, chop onion + garlic and whisk them together with rest of the ingredients.



8. Put 3-4 fritters on a large plate – I needed a pizza plate, no joke – and add a generous serving sour cream.



Guten Hunger & Buon Appetito!