Strawberry Fritters

This recipe is delicious with any fruit, from a fascinating website that gives 21st century flair to traditional French and British dishes. This is actually a French recipe, and it looks amazing. I could only imagine the taste! Another one on my 'to do' list!

Strawberry (or any seasonal fruit) Fritters

Ingredients

• 1 lb. all-purpose flour
• 5-8 oz. of white wine
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. brandy
• zest of two lemons (approximately 2 tsp.)
• 2 lb. strawberries
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 lb. of lard or peanut oil

Preparation

1. Make a batter with the first four ingredients. Add the lemon zest. The batter is right when it resembles a medium pancake batter and can make a rope or a figure eight in the bowl as it drips from a spoon.
2. Dunk the strawberries in the batter and then set them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. When the pan is full, put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.
3. Melt the lard in a frying pan. When the lard has reached 360 degrees on a thermometer, fry the strawberries in the hot fat.
4. Fry them a nice brown, then dust them with sugar.
5. Put the sugared strawberries under a broiler for a minute or two to melt the sugar.

Roll Kuchen

There are many recipes for this Mennonite Cruller, otherwise known as "Rollkuchen" - or rolled cookies. As so many others, it's real farm food with eggs, flour, butter and milk as the main ingredients. As always, it's better when you add just a bit of sugar to it, and of course, most farm families would use either sweet milk or cream to prepare the treats. This recipe seems like a nice compromise:

Roll Kuchen to be served with Arboose (watermelon) 

Roll Kuchen

• 1 tsp salt
• 3 c flour
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 milk warmed with 1/4 c butter to melt

Form quite a stiff dough and roll out as thinly as possible, cutting slits in the middle and pulling one end of the rectangle through the slit. This forms the traditional Roll Kuchen shape. Fry in deep hot fat until golden. Serve with preserves or (in summer) watermelon.